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Special Report
Who Are You?
My children’s future may depend on your answer.
As I await the arrival of my tickets to see The Who in concert in a few months, it is tempting in this election season to consider a 2012 version of the gauzy wisdom of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” — to wonder whether a majority of this nation still believes, or even wants to believe, the “same as the old boss” campaign rhetoric of President Barack Obama, despite his persistent record of hyper-partisanship and failure, both foreign and domestic.
But sticking with the words of Pete Townshend (a great lyricist if not the equal of Ray Davies of The Kinks), a better question as we ponder what is accurately if too frequently called “the most important election of our lifetimes,” is “Who Are You?”
Who are you, Mr. or Mrs. Likely Voter? And what does America mean to you?
Are you a “Progressive” who believes, as Barack Obama does, that our Constitution, our society’s rulebook (even if apparently officiated by replacement referees these days), is “political witchcraft” (Woodrow Wilson) designed to create a “supremacy for the rich and powerful” (Howard Zinn) which should only be supported by a president “as he understands it” (Franklin Roosevelt)?
Or are you a proud American who believes, as I do, that the Constitution “is the only safeguard of our liberties” (Abraham Lincoln), that freedom is being taken from us “by gradual and silent encroachments” (James Madison), that “the Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens” (Justice John Marshall Harlan) and that an important defense against “abuses of Constitutional power” is to “inform (Americans’) discretion by education” (Thomas Jefferson)?
Do you believe, as Barack Obama does, that there is a “right” to health care or a “living wage” or anything else which must be demanded or extracted from others with an implicit threat of force?
Or do you believe, as the Founders did and as I hope Mitt Romney at least feels in his gut, that our fundamental laws are the codification of natural and “negative” rights? To wit, we have rights as human beings (not just as citizens) regarding actions that the government may not take against us or allow others to take against us, rather than commands regarding what others must do for us.
Do you accept as true, as Barack Obama does, that “When you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody”? Or do you deem taxation beyond what is needed to fund the legitimate functions of government — to protect the life, liberty, and property of citizens — as “lawful plunder” which inculcates Americans into a culture of dependency and out of our historic trait of self-reliance (to include family, neighbors, and charity when necessary) upon which American exceptionalism was built? (Liberals, including Obama, view American exceptionalism as a myth.)
Do you consider, as Barack Obama does, men (the term used the traditional way, to include women) to be too venal to be allowed to freely interact with others, especially in the economic sphere, and too stupid to be allowed to govern our own affairs, especially in the most important aspects of our existence as once-free people?
Or do you conclude, as Madison said in Federalist 51, that although “if men were angels no government would be necessary,” over-regulation and over-legislation based on mistrust of our citizens’ ethics or intelligence leads to loss of liberty and prosperity, while giving government nearly unfettered power over our daily lives?
These and many other such fundamental issues are at stake on Tuesday. Questions about “entitlements” (think about what that word really means, and whether such a thing should really be possible under our Constitution), and questions about energy policy (whether to sacrifice the prosperity of a nation at the altar of “green”). Questions about whether national security means being liked or being respected, even feared, and questions about whether we want to live in a country where politicians buy our votes with our own money by promising subsidies for everything from education to health care to ethanol (as if any society that is not diagnosably insane would willingly implement a policy of burning our food). And perhaps most importantly, critical questions about the immoral transfer of debt onto the backs of our youngest in order to fund the profligacy and cowardice of interest groups, unions, and politicians.
Mitt Romney may not have been most Republicans’ idea of the perfect candidate. Indeed he was not mine. But my enthusiasm for a Romney victory is so strong that I will, for the first time in at least twenty years, vote Republican (rather than Libertarian; I’ve never voted for a Democrat) for president.
One obvious reason: As I said to a neighbor who asked me what I would do on Election Day, “I have two young children. It would be utterly irresponsible of me to vote for anyone other than Mitt Romney.” This nation simply cannot afford another four years of Barack Obama. By that I do not just mean financially, though that is vitally important, but also in terms of the fundamental relationship between the citizens of the United States and our government. Barack Obama has moved us rapidly (speeding up a process in which politicians of both parties have been complicit for generations) toward all becoming wards of the state, dependent on handouts and the beneficence of politicians and regulators. This must stop, or we will no longer be even vaguely recognizable as the free nation that our forebears pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” to create.
But another reason to enthusiastically support the Republican candidate must be made plain, and that reason is Mitt Romney himself. No doubt any citizen of good will can find something in Romney’s plans, as with any politician’s plans, to question. But in the past several weeks, perhaps due to increasing self-confidence following the pivotal first presidential debate, Romney has become an appealing, often compelling speaker, with a positive, hopeful, credible message. (Romney’s speech in Englewood, Colorado on Saturday is just the latest example, and well worth watching if you have not seen Romney speak lately.)
Yes, we could spend our time wondering “Where was this guy six months ago, or four years ago?” but even successful adults sometimes go through significant growing processes as they experience and learn. It is perhaps a key sign of successful adults that they, unlike our current president, do indeed learn rather than going through life as the very embodiment of Einstein’s definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
About the Author
Ross Kaminsky is a self-employed trader and investor and is a senior fellow of the Heartland Institute. He is the host of The Ross Kaminsky Show on Denver’s NewsRadio 850 KOA at 11 AM on most Sundays. You can reach Ross by e-mail at rossputin(at)rossputin(dot)com.
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Joellen| 11.6.12 @ 6:39AM
I am a Roman Catholic, Constitutional, Tea Party American and I will vote Governor Mitt Romney for I believe he (along with a Rep Senate & Congress) will slowly take us off this path that Obama & his ilk has intentionally taken us; the path of destruction. The rest is up to us folks. We need to return to our moral roots. We need to be the protectors of the unborn, the infirm and those who the left would describe as "disposable". We need to promote from early childhood patriotism to our country (not right or wrong) but true patriotism, what this country not only means to America but to the world in its strenght and goodness. We need to return to the good book, the Bible and to that grand document the Constitution. We need to cleanse our educational system, media, churches, synogogs, and entertainment which has been entrenched with the communist agenda. We need to return responsibility & accountability to the parents and they need to raise their children without interference from "big brother or big sister". We need to restore America to GOD and allow HIM to lead us with HIS rightous hand. Today we start the journey and may we walk it together in faith and love for something that is much bigger than us, a future of Liberty and Freedom and a beacon for the world.
The Avenger| 11.6.12 @ 6:44AM
Amen my friend and well said.
Von Mises Jr| 11.6.12 @ 9:18AM
I think God may have already voted.
In the last 60 days of the campaign we have seen Benghazi and Sandy with a Katrina-like aftermath.
Obama and Hillary in 2008 touted "we are the ones we have been waiting for." Our currency states "In God We Trust," but our "Age of Reason" intellectuals figure that they could implement Rousseau's "Noble Savage" theory and correct God's errors in creation. So they went to Libya to transform 7th Century savages to cultured men. They sodomized and killed our Ambassador instead.
Obama said he would “stop the seas from rising and heal the planet. One week before Election Day, God sent Sandy to pour 13'8" of sea water into the NYC trains and tunnels. King Canute was not in the house. By golly, if he was not with Bouncy or some-J's-please, he could have commanded the tides to recede.
So when Iran gets the bomb, or the market’s collapse; Sandy will look like a walk in the old Battery Park. Your choice. He warned you.
TLP| 11.6.12 @ 5:31PM
Spoken like a Hottie.
Not you, Jr.
Her.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 11.6.12 @ 6:58AM
Ditto.
Alan Third Party Voter Brooks | 11.6.12 @ 7:36AM
"The growth of entitlement spending over the past half-century has been distinctly greater under Republican administrations than Democratic ones. Between 1960 and 2010, the growth of entitlement spending was exponential — but in any given year, it was on the whole over 8 percent higher if the president happened to be a Republican rather than a Democrat. . . . The Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George W. Bush administrations presided over especially lavish expansions of the entitlement state."
Ross Kaminsky| 11.6.12 @ 8:07AM
Alan,
Your choices today do not include Nixon or Ford or Bush.
They are Romney and Obama (and the third parties).
I am not a defender of Bush, never voted for him, and have written some intensely critical articles about him.
Furthermore, these issues are as much about Congress as about the president, and the current "Tea Party" composition of much of the House makes gov't growth under a Republican president much less likely.
All that said, Obamacare is the biggest growth in entitlements for a long time, probably since Medicare was created.
This president is bankrupting my children.
DTOM| 11.6.12 @ 9:27AM
Ross,
A fine point: This president HAS bankrupted my children, and their children.
DTOM
Al Adab| 11.6.12 @ 5:38PM
Mr. K, DTOM, et al:
My will contains an apology letter to my grandchildren for failing to protect their ability to make their own way in the world. Too many of us have sold our birthright of liberty for a bowl of government pottage.
Tonight we shall see. Vote then spend some time in prayer.
TLP| 11.6.12 @ 5:32PM
He's an Idiot.
I thought you knew that.
Alej| 11.6.12 @ 8:16AM
Thanks for your repetitive cut and paste drivel, Tyrone.
State your sources for that crap. Or keep it in da 'hood where you come from.
Alan Third Party Voter Brooks | 11.6.12 @ 9:29AM
Ross,
Romney will not reduce govt.-- but it is true his foreign policy might be better so I don't fear him as I did Bush. I don't like Romney, but it doesn't appear he would pour a trillion and change down the drain in nation-building.
Alan Third Party Voter Brooks | 11.6.12 @ 11:33PM
...'course, "nation"- "building" in Ashcanistan was saving face after 9-11, and Gore would have done the same.
SCPOret| 11.6.12 @ 5:18PM
And most of the spending grew out of LBJ's war on poverty yet with all that spending we still have the poor amongst us. Quit giving handouts and teach them a work ethic. They that don't work, don't eat.
Alej| 11.6.12 @ 8:25AM
All those "need" to's are already being done by about half our population.
The other half will never comply, or even care why they should.
With respect for your deep caring for our country, I'd like to add one more "need."
We NEED to institute voter qualifications, to the extent that the crap of this country won't ever be able to rip it apart like they have in the last few years. Take the vote away from the "takers" in our society, and even the scumbag demagogues in Congress won't be interested in buying their votes with our money.
Alan Third Party Voter Brooks | 11.6.12 @ 9:47AM
well, surely dead people ought not vote unless they are resurrected on the third day.
SUBVET| 11.6.12 @ 10:59AM
Alan you should see this...........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsa4uLmTw0M
SCPOret| 11.6.12 @ 5:20PM
My uncle born in Chicago in 1921 voted straight republican until he died in 1988. Since then he's voted straight democrat.
RCV| 11.6.12 @ 11:44AM
Sorry, Alej, but the Old South is dead. The people of the United States are never going to let anyone take their franchise away. Ever.
The Avenger| 11.6.12 @ 6:43AM
A wonderful piece Ross. You have very succinctly laid out the choice that we face . My great fear is that we have already passed the point of no return else how can we explain the closeness of this race. We have a stark contrast between a man who has lived the American dream, who has been wildly successful, who has shown true compassion and humility,and who is charitable with HIS wealth. On the opposite side we have a parasite that would kill the host to satisfy his bloated sense of entitlement. Why in hell is this election close?
Ross Kaminsky| 11.6.12 @ 8:08AM
My view is that this election is close primarily because people are still infatuated with the first black president and are unwilling and perhaps even emotionally unable to admit what a big mistake Barack Obama was.
KennesawJack| 11.6.12 @ 9:14AM
Ross, I think that is a "been there, done that" thing. People may be "unwilling and perhaps even emotionally unable to admit what a big mistake Barack Obama was." but they are not going to be unwilling or emotionally unable to recognize their individual economic conditions. Something tells me all those folks who have lost their homes and their jobs aren't going to be unwilling, in the least, to kick this buffoon out.
TLP| 11.6.12 @ 6:02PM
You know that I love you. I'm your new best friend.
But you're Hypothesis that people are gonna vote for this Kamikaze Marxist Narccissist because they don't wanna throw out the First Black Muslin Communist America Hater, is beyond Idiotic. (I love you)
23 Million people OUTTA WORK.
Coal Miners, Oil and Gas Drillers. Welders, Pipefitters, Carpenters, Riggers, Truck Drivers, and everyone who works at all of those Ancillary Jobs that spring up in the little Boom Towns that buttress these Drilling Sites.
People who lost their Dealerships, when The Muslim took over the Car Companies, as well as the THOUSANDS of people who worked at these Dealerships.
All of the Non Union Workers, who lost their Healthcare and their Pensions, when Black Jesus handed over those Car Companies to the UAW.
Everybody working PART TIME, because Hamas' Deliveror has KILLED the Private Sector in this Country.
Black Unemployment is 17%. Their Kid's Unemployment rate is 50%.
Farmers can't get water.
Fishermen can't Fish.
Miners can't Mine.
We are a Country of Hunters and Gatherers who FEEL LIKE THEY'RE DEAD INSIDE, when they can't provide for their Families. It's ingrained in their DNA.
The Days of on our knees with our hands out, is over.
Mark my words.
James Baker| 11.6.12 @ 6:52AM
To use Robert Burns old poem:
Now is the day, and now is the hour:
See the front of battle lower (threaten),
See approach proud Edward's power -
Chains and slavery.
Who will be a traitor knave?
Who will fill a coward's grave?
Who's so base as be a slave? -
Let him turn, and flee.
Who am I? I am an American and a soldier. My forefather's blood helped dye our Flag red, from the War of Independence to the present conflict. I do not see white Americans, black Americans, Hispanic Americans, etc. I see AMERICANS.
I believe our Nation was created for a purpose, and that we are the last hope for liberty on earth.
I stand for all the forces of good that have shaped our Nation and against the powers of evil that threaten to destroy her. This we'll defend.
Mars the Avenger| 11.6.12 @ 7:29AM
Eloquent.... My family has been here 100 years, but many family members, including myself (30 years as a Marine officer), have served from WW II to the present day. Indeed, we are ALL Americans - we must stand up and defend our Constitution against these Marxists, statists and perverts who would destroy this wonderful country in their "transformation."
drudge ette obama| 11.6.12 @ 6:54AM
Well, Ross, you have come into a good place with this article. Feels good, doesn't it?
Ross Kaminsky| 11.6.12 @ 8:08AM
yes it does
Albert Constantine Jr.| 11.6.12 @ 7:08AM
Mr. Kaminsky puts forth a good summary of how he as an individual and we as a country came to where we are today, and what we need to do to get the ship righted.
With respect to today's headlines, so much of what the Left does, they claim is for the children. Since almost all of the good that they promote is paid for with money from others, isn't it the natural extension of the Left's worldview with all they want to do for the children, they expect the children to pick up the tab.
The Avenger| 11.6.12 @ 12:45PM
The left cares not a whit about the children, they care about power. They care about forcing their warped entitlement mentality down the throat of those who actually carry their own load. Remember my friend the government cannot give to one what it doesn't take from another. The left wishes to feel good about their "charity" but they wish to do it with our money, not theirs.
TLP| 11.6.12 @ 6:03PM
Suckup.
Appleby| 11.6.12 @ 7:25AM
Mr. Kaminsky, I am not on earth for your chldren. YOU gave them life; YOU look after them. Your children's future depends on YOU, and once they are old enough, on THEM. That's the bedrock difference between the socialist nightmare being foisted on us and the America I grew up in; MY parents took responsibility for the children THEY brought into the world, and brought us up to take responsibility for ourselves as soon as we were capable. Here's hoping you will dig in and do the same. Just keep it in mind meanwhile. I am NOT on earth for the benefit of your children. What their life is like depends on THEM.
Ross Kaminsky| 11.6.12 @ 8:11AM
Appleby,
I have no idea how you could possibly think that anything I've written in this article or in any article suggests that I think you have any responsibility for my children.
My son's middle name is Rand, after all.
But if you vote for Obama, which is a vote to saddle my children with debt, then you are harming them and in that case you are not my friend or ally, separate from any question of responsibility.
So, bully for you, creating a ridiculous straw man and then slaying it. Do you feel better now?
TLP| 11.6.12 @ 6:04PM
She's from Canada.
Alej| 11.6.12 @ 8:20AM
Appleby| 11.6.12 @ 7:25AM
"Mr. Kaminsky, I am not on earth for your chldren."
How in HELL did you derive that concept from the article ?
Ross Kaminsky| 11.6.12 @ 8:28AM
Alej, you made the point more succinctly than I did...
SUBVET| 11.6.12 @ 10:10AM
You have to forgive appleby they have her on some strong meds at the Jane Fonda Home for the Aged.
fmm| 11.6.12 @ 10:05AM
Wow, what article did you read? Mr. Kaminsky's article is the exact opposite of your tirade. Maybe you should take your meds today.
Joellen| 11.6.12 @ 7:27AM
Ironic isnt it Albert, for the Left also advocates Killing the Children (55+ million) - so really just who will pick up the tab?
Albert Constantine Jr.| 11.6.12 @ 8:40AM
...Yes, in the process increasing the tab on those who survive Choice.
DTOM| 11.6.12 @ 9:29AM
That's the real "War on Women!"
DTOM
fmm| 11.6.12 @ 10:09AM
Hmmm... If the left transfers the cost to the children, but kills the children in the meantime, maybe there is no harm done? If you think the foregoing is weird and convoluted, then you don't understand the left, because it would make sense to them.
Zeppo| 11.6.12 @ 7:33AM
You are mixing up John Marshall and John Harlan.
Ross Kaminsky| 11.6.12 @ 8:14AM
Thanks, Zeppo. The web site I had used for reference was wrong. I have corrected, as well as correcting one other which was Madison instead of Marshall, so Marshall has nothing now (except for Harlan's middle name.)
bison cookie| 11.6.12 @ 7:39AM
NO MORE YEARS – TOP 20 REASONS WHY A REGIME CHANGE IS IMPERATIVE. Here are the Top 20 reasons a regime change is imperative, now: 1. $5 Trillion in New Debt – By the end of FY 2012, Obama had added $5.3 trillion to the National Debt – almost one-third of the total ($16 trillion). He rolled up more debt in three years than the first 41 presidents … READ MORE: http://bwcentral.org/2012/11/n.....mperative/
William L. Gensert| 11.6.12 @ 7:55AM
Excellent point and a succinct description of progressives as an ideological clique refusing to learn from history.
The road to success has always been paved with knowledge and the ability to learn and adapt is the key to acquiring true knowledge, which is altogether different from education.
Progressives may be educated, but they certainly do not learn from their mistakes. In fact, confident of their superior intelligence, they are convinced they never make any errors.
TLP| 11.6.12 @ 6:18PM
I disagree.
Progressives are a Cult, no less than Jonestown, The Branch Davidians, The Manson Family, The Hail Boppers, or The Scientologists.
They Rally behind their Messiah, and he can do no wrong. They will Drink the Koolaide, Burn Themselves Out, Go on a Killing Spree, or Put on Purple Jump Suits and Kill Themselves for the Greater Glory of The One.
The History of the World is littered with their kind, and in the end, it's always the same.
Everybody Dies.
No matter.
Time marches on, and Memories are short.
Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Castro, and Mugabe.
Hundreds of Millions are Murdered. The World is set ablaze, and when it all comes crashing down around them, they sit in the Shadows and wait for the moment when they can set the wheels in motion for ONE MORE GO OF IT.
It's as certain as the Sun coming up in the Morning.
John - The Mighty Fahvaag| 11.6.12 @ 8:27AM
I have remained silent for the last few months. I continue to maintain that Mitt Romney is a 1950-1960 era Liberal Democrat. (Though a much better human being than any Kennedy ever was.)
That being said, JFK cut taxes, conducted a stout military defense of this nation, and protected free markets. None of that can be said for the current occupant of the White House. The last four years have been an unmitigated disaster.
One failure after another, followed by lies, obfuscations, and stonewalling. All of this aided by a mass media that has finally revealed itself to be the propaganda arm of the Neo Fascist "One" Regime.
It, therefore, would be unconscionable for me to throw away a vote to obstinate ethereal "principle" over the practical implications of seeing my 16 year old daughter with a $217,000 and growing debt hanging over her life.
My eldest asked my "So, what changed your mind?"
I told him, "John Roberts, did. He left me no choice in his betrayal of Conservatism, Constitutionalism, and Originalism."
So, later today I will limp painfully to my polling place, and cast my vote FOR Paul Ryan for Vice President, and AGAINST "The False Dimitri".
It's a change of heart and mind that I can live with.
Regards,
John - The Mighty Fahvaag
Albert Constantine Jr.| 11.6.12 @ 8:38AM
If I recall correctly, you are in Virginia, where your vote is likely to make a difference.
Kwan| 11.6.12 @ 8:39AM
On the whole Obama's term in office has been a totally horrific experience for the country. Somewhat like a Freddy Krueger "A Nightmare on Elm Street" movie, only this version we'll call "A Nightmare in the Oval Office". Obama and Freddy have a lot in common namely: destruction, more destruction, much more destruction, and much much more destruction. Slasher Obama is slashing people's hopes for the future, has our economy in ruins, is attempting to destroy our health care system, has weakened our national security, and in 4 more years will have the country resembling Zimbabwe. The country can bring an end to this nightmare, by going to the polls and sending Barack Krueger back into whatever hole he crawled out of.
TLP| 11.6.12 @ 6:23PM
Mr. Kwan.
I believe that you have Contest Fever.
I'm just sayin.
Kwan| 11.6.12 @ 8:51PM
You may be right. Perhaps I'll have to enter a Contestaholic Anonymous 12 step program.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.6.12 @ 8:40AM
When the public looks at their ballots they get confused with so many issues. A few will initially mistake it for a restaurant menu and wonder why the waiter hasn't appeared.
Others understand that their meat and potatoes will arrive with a direct deposit check if they vote the right way.
Others will perceive the ballot questions to be too confusing because the questions were worded by bureaucrats and attorneys. Those people should be given a choice of a short ballot with only the candidates for national office on them.
They have already declared their allegiance to a new community founded on the belief
that government recipients are entitled to what they can get so they need not be concerned
about local issues.
There are many who will take it seriously but even that group must take what is offered on the ballot.
The election process is tainted with the limitations of civilization but it's the best that civilization offers.
At some point in the future the public who pays may overwhelm the public who takes and that will portend a brighter future. Until then, we are limited by those who are too dumb to participate but do. That's the gist of it.
John786| 11.6.12 @ 9:07AM
I'm not against a little spreading around. Just a tad. A teeny weeny bit of spreading: What possibly harm can it do? We might even get some decent schools, healthcare etc. I'm definitely against spreading wars, like Mr Rossy, but food stamps are always welcome.
DTOM| 11.6.12 @ 9:32AM
Always nice to steal a little something when no one's looking, isn't it?
Your thought represents the death of civilization. But just a little death, right?
Begone thief!
DTOM
c. j. acworth| 11.6.12 @ 9:48AM
"....food stamps are always welcome." You don't mind Uncle Sam taking your hard-earned money and giving it to someone else. Fine. Thats lucky for you because no-one asked you, they just decided to reach into your pocket and take it. I on the other hand was raised to believe that responsibility to help the helpless, the down-on-their-luck-through-no-fault-of-their-own folks was a personal act of grace to be given in gratitude to Him who has shown Grace to me. To the extent that my money is taken by a third party to be disbursed as they see fit, I am robbed of my ability to show charity. It also begins to engender the idea that I don't need to show charity myself, because "I gave at the office." To many of us want someone else to be compassionate for us.
KennesawJack| 11.6.12 @ 9:56AM
Wanna bet he doesn 't have an Obamaphone, too?
TLP| 11.6.12 @ 6:23PM
He's a Muslim.
Bob Grant| 11.6.12 @ 10:50AM
A little more money in the pockets of those worthless public school teachers will magically make them competent?
You're about as naive a Your Boy running the show and a disgrace to the 785 Johns preceding you.
John786| 11.6.12 @ 10:03AM
I don't like the government spending money on wars. You don't like government feeding the poor. Thats why we have elections. And just because the government spreads it around doesn't prevent people spreading a little at their own initiative. My prediction is that the african community organiser is going to clinch it. Loads of money will come second. Coming second aint all bad. When I was a little lad at school, coming in the top 10, at athletics was really good. So don't dish the second spot.
fmm| 11.6.12 @ 10:14AM
The second spot is the first loser - seems to apply right nicely to you.
Tom Kyba| 11.6.12 @ 10:54AM
The first sentence of your comment is your real opinion. The second sentence is a silly immature straw-man and should be beneath you. Shame.
mike 3/505| 11.6.12 @ 10:58AM
John,
Like it or not...our Constitution clearly states that the Federal government gets to declare and fund wars. It says absolutely no such thing regarding funding the poor.
John786| 11.6.12 @ 12:05PM
So the constitution caters for war but not helping the poor. Phew. That's sorted then. I vote we change the constitution: no wars and helping the poor.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 11.6.12 @ 2:11PM
You're not even in the US, or aUS citizen. You don't get a vote on our Constitution (unless, of course, the Democrats are victorious).
The Avenger| 11.6.12 @ 12:58PM
Were you born a dumbass or did you grow into one.
TLP| 11.6.12 @ 6:25PM
He's a Muslim.
OregonBuzz| 11.6.12 @ 10:30AM
"If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." —Samuel Adams
Louis Jenkins| 11.6.12 @ 10:37AM
What am I? I am a God fearing American. I will not support, nor vote for Obama. My family agrees with me, including my siblings. Remember America, you either make or break the USA today.
RJ| 11.6.12 @ 10:51AM
I am committed to preserving and promoting American Exceptionalism and its unique commitment to personal freedom and opportunity. I was second in line at my precinct this morning, but was the first to place my ballot in the ballot box (well, the electronic version of it).
Jack London| 11.6.12 @ 11:36AM
" the very embodiment of Einstein's definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Ah - you mean like lining the pockets of the rich and expecting trickle down.
Truth to Power| 11.6.12 @ 1:42PM
Ah - you mean like the big O's gay money bundlers or the clowns at Solyndra, or all the fat cats involved with high speed rail. Yea we need a change from more than trillion a year extravaganza.
TLP| 11.6.12 @ 6:26PM
No. Like Socialism, you Cigarette.
Oldefarte| 11.6.12 @ 12:49PM
For anyone interested [other than myself], I voted for Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan [and my straight Republican balloted ticket on 11/6/12 @ 9:30AM. Who am I? I'm a senior who spent 35 years of constant employment by one corporate employer before retiring. I watched in horror on 11/4/08 as the stupidity of this nation unfolded to overly exert it charitability in electing an African-American as its next POTUS. I joined with others in shockingly witnessing the politics of his administration of the last four years. I witnessed his legislated attempt to destroy Medicare and US capitalism and replace same with his socialistic re-distribution of others' wealth/income; and most recently the minute uncoverings of his arms-running scheme in Lybia to benefit his Muslim Brotherhood friends in the Middle East. I pray now for the small children of this editorialist and all others who will bear the burdens of his political agenda if not stopped and reversed on this last day of recogning. Who am I? I am EVERYMAN!!!!!!!!
cicero| 11.6.12 @ 2:13PM
In the past 20 years, we have seen the transformation of the Democrat politician from an individual who had ideas on how to better the country, which ideas we may have disagreed with, to politicians who merely wantedd to get into a position of power. Clinton did not run for office to "do" something, but to be something - the President. Everything he said was mere postureing. Obama was, and is, much the same. They wanted to "be" president. In doing so, they have destroyed any legitimacy remaining to their party, and agrandized and enriched themselves beyond their wildest dreams.
The new purpose of the Democrat politician is to see how much wealth they can accrue to themselves. Clinton never held a real job, and is worth in the area of $100 million. Gore never held a real job, and is now worth in the area of $100 million. Obama has never held a real job, and is shopping for a $37 million home on Oahu. See a pattern here? In the meantime, the Democrat party accomplishes nothing meaningful for the country, or for its constituency of value. It is all about the plunder.
If the citizens have noticed, and this election is the landslide that Barone and Morriss predict, it may mean the death of the Democrat Party.
John II| 11.6.12 @ 3:04PM
The Obamanation has by now fully revealed itself to be naught else but a weird coalition of button-down social engineers and crazed populist street-punks.
And so, I herewith prophesy: This day shall be a watershed in the history of the Republic: either we slough off the Obamanation to reassert the American experiment in limited constitutional governance and religious liberty and free-market prosperity and responsible military supremacy, or we slouch finally into the degenerate and chilly night of smug Euro-narcissism and fodder for Islamist thugs.
Yea, the die is cast. And, numbed of late by the Professor's endless cascade of cheap middle-school debating-team rhetoric, I cannot help waxing grandiloquent.
And now back to "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939), in which Jimmy Stewart plays Paul Ryan 31 years before the latter was born. Hollywood wasn't quite as flaky in its Golden Years.
BobSledd| 11.6.12 @ 3:41PM
Big Government is a COLOSSAL FAILURE when the chips are down, as they are now in Little Ferry and Moonachie, NJ, Staten island and Brooklyn. People are wet.cold,freezing and without power. Looting is beginning. The Federal Government is nowhere to be seen. "This" is what we want? On the othr hand, Church and Synagogues, College kids from Ramapo College and Columbia and Volunteer Firemen and just plain Americans are flooding in to clean up, bring food,water,diapers and so forth. NOT Big Government. When will this sink in? We help each other..The Government confiscates our wealth and pisses it away and when we need THEM, they fail.
Datsun 2000 Mark| 11.6.12 @ 3:59PM
If Obama wins then the question is Who were we?
Leveut| 11.6.12 @ 4:30PM
"to consider a 2012 version of the gauzy wisdom of "Won't Get Fooled Again" "
Just an observation---that line is almost always taken out of context. In context:
And I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
bluecollarbytes| 11.6.12 @ 6:45PM
There are those who raise entire families, passing on the 'entitlement business' to their children, having instructed them in the ways of a free ride.
I voted for 'your' children , and the very future of the country, this morning. My vote was always in the bag though for Romney, if he was to be the Republican candidate.
I expect a huge victory for Romney. I believe it will be precedent-setting, a historic rejection of socialism and dear leader.
soljerblue| 11.6.12 @ 7:50PM
I am a senior citizen who grew up in a free America where Democrats -- most of them that I was aware of -- believed in the constitutional limits we once understood to be the overarching rule book of governance. I put on a uniform and went into harm's way for that country. So did many, manyothers of my post-WWII generation. I am a taxpaying, conservative Tea Party member and active in local politics in my county and state. And I worry about my grandchildren every day of my life, and want them to know at least a few of the freedoms I've enjoyed my entire life. This country is worth fighting for with every thought, every act, and every breath. God bless the USA!