Tuesday, August 31, 2010

THE SUCCESS OF THE BECK RALLY

The Conservative Revolution vs America's Ruling Class. We are unique! Speaking humbly, to be a small part of this historic ground-swell is exciting, and a bit frightening at the same time. The Tea Party movement has grown to monumental proportions because America has had enough of 'Dirty Politics', and it's not going to take it anymore. There was a culmination of this movement in last year's 9-11 March on DC, and again in the 8-28 Beck rally at the Lincoln Memorial.

We have seen elected officials scoff at their own people, and rule against them, time after time. We have seen our own government sue one of our sister states, for simply attempting to protect themselves in the same manner laid out by our federal government. We have heard too many times our nation is arrogant, we are a nation of cowards, we are no longer a Christian nation, and that America is a mean country.

We have had enough!

The liberal press is just frothing at the mouth to lay blame on someone -- anyone, but they cannot. This movement doesn't need a leader, it comes from within -- which is why all the venom and the vitriol they throw at us only gives us strength. What makes me perk up is the little phrase "Reagan Was Right", and the values for which he stood. They keep us on the right path, holding our timeless founding principles in the light where they belong, and God back in to our country.

Putting the DC rally in perspective is an excellent piece by Jeffrey Lord in American Spectator: (Loved it)

The Success of the Beck Rally
by Jeffrey Lord - August 31, 2010

I love watching Glenn Beck on TV.

Day winding down, he makes so many good points. As someone who has spent a lifetime studying history, been there in government and politics, I find it great to watch Beck's particular insistence on educating Americans about real history that has gone missing. Having long ago learned first hand the progressive-race connection, for example, by having lived for a couple years in Woodrow Wilson's hometown, I am stunned to see someone have the wit and the chops to detail this particularly disturbing history of America's "progressive" president on popular television.

Bravo.

So I watched the rally on C-SPAN.

And you know what? (He says gently…)

I was elated -- and concerned.

Elated because putting together something like this is no day at the beach. Beck clearly worked his heart out on it and so too the Tea Party folks and all manner of others. It was a triumph. A huge success and Beck deserves congratulations for it.

If I may raise one concern.

Believe it or not, I found this event to be a bit of an intellectual muddle.

After considerable amounts of time doing a superb job on his television show analyzing American history -- from early American religion to the Founders to the Progressives -- and managing to draw a television audience of amazing size with all this, it was almost as if there was a bit of indecision as to what to say at this rally. Was this politics? Or religion? Or something else?

In truth, I wasn't sure. There's a difference between spot-on political assessments of "social justice" and being Billy Graham. Of urging people to political action -- and religious action. Oddly, this is one of the reasons (in reverse) why Beck opponents in the world of liberal religion have lost members: they have presented themselves as religious leaders yet behave as if they were secular politicians. Beck seems to be struggling with being a secular talk radio commentator -- or the Reverend Glenn.

There's nothing wrong with either. But the latter, per se, seems not what he was about all of this time up until now.

FOR REASONS THAT HAVE nothing to do with Glenn Beck -- television, the celebrification of America, the eternally human tendency to be attracted to powerful personalities -- it is critical to remember that events of this nature are not about the speakers but the participants. Martin Luther King's famous speech will be remembered forever -- but it will be remembered because the American people understood how to bring about racial equality for all Americans using the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Principles King spent a career discussing.

In other words, while the headlines go to a King or a Beck -- it is in fact the principles and the millions working to make those principles a reality that are always the real story.

But if the leader is well-intentioned yet unclear, well, muddle ensues.

The 2010 election is not about personality X,Y or Z. With the greatest of respect to Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, both of whom I like, neither this election -- nor any other -- can afford to be about Glenn or Sarah or Newt or Rush or Sean or Mark or the Tea Party or Rand Paul or Sharron Angle or Alaska's Joe Miller or anyone else.

Is God part of this election? Yes, as always in American history. Beck is fond of quoting what originally came from Lincoln, saying that it's not important whether God is on our side but whether we are on God's side. But having well and powerfully established himself as a man of politics, Beck seems to be going elsewhere. True? Untrue? No idea.

Conservatives would do well to remember that this election is simultaneously about none of the above -- and all of the above. It is about millions across America who are totally un-famous beyond their church, their village, town or city, their service club, their school, their military unit if serving.

The 2010 election -- and every day we all draw a breath -- was correctly summarized centuries ago by Edmund Burke when he spoke of the principles at stake in a "partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born."

The Beck rally, says Beck, was about prayer. About God. And God generally supplies the help. As John Fund reported over at the Wall Street Journal, the grass roots nature of this event was evident as hundreds of Tea Party members buckled down to do the hard work of making the event and other events associated with it actually happen and run smoothly. But the Tea Party as it has emerged has presented itself as a political movement concerned about economics and politics. Not a religious faith.

The conservative movement's success comes from, among other things, the very fact of its messiness. Burke never said it wouldn't be messy. It is totally uncoordinated, filled with vibrant personalities who are busy blossoming in their own way that is not someone else's way. To which one can only say: Amen! This is a central strength, never a weakness. Beck says the rally to him was about God and, with his brigade of 240 ministers and awards for Faith, Hope and Charity, he added a distinctly unique flavor that is his. Some watched and saw a direct connection to politics. To each his own.

Ronald Reagan never ever saw himself as anything other than what he was his entire, mature adult life -- an advocate for timeless conservative principles. The reason conservatives celebrate the life and presidency of this mortal human being was his thorough, in-the-bones understanding of the fact that the principles are timeless -- even if individual humans are not. To be a Reaganite is to take Reagan's lesson to heart.

Liberals are out there just going crazy waiting for Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin or any other prominent conservative to take a fall -- so they can turn around and say to the country: "See? It doesn't work. It's all about them." Turning himself from talk radio and TV commentator Glenn to Reverend Glenn will surely be seen by some -- if in fact that's what happening -- as just such an opening.

If Glenn Beck hasn't yet figured out where he's going with all of this, all the more reason for conservatives to stay focused on principles.

Beck has to know this. He comes across as so remarkably open, educating himself and his audience as he goes along. This is what surely accounts for part of the enthusiastic response from his audience. So too does Sarah Palin get it.

But whether Americans see the Beck rally as a rally about God or a rally about American politics, without doubt what is also at play here is the absolute rebellion that is taking place across America. A rebellion of which Beck and Palin and Newt and the call for God are symptoms but not causes. The American people in 2010, not at all unlike the American people in 1776, have had it. As Angelo Codevilla has so devastatingly captured in his forthcoming book on America's Ruling Class, beyond any one issue they are simply done with the arrogance that is the "dismissal of the American people's intellectual, spiritual, and moral substance." They are done, more than done, with the self-selected class of their fellow citizens whose "principal article of faith, its claim to the right to decide for others, is precisely that it knows and operates by standards beyond others' comprehension."

THIS REBELLION HAS BEEN COMING for a very long time. Surely the 40-plus years of yanking God out of every public school and square plays a role in this upheaval. Take a good look around.

One of the most successful books in the last year has been Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto.

What's particularly interesting about Levin's book is that it was written before the election of Barack Obama. Which is to say, that Levin understood exactly the continuing conservative revolution -- and that it was not, as its critics of the moment wishfully insisted, dead. A prediction made with some regularity since at least the day after Barry Goldwater's 1964 defeat.

On the contrary, the success of conservatism can be measured in multiples of ways, Levin's book sales but one.

Let's take Levin's own talk radio field. Rush Limbaugh is in a class all by himself. The story of his success is both personal and a tale of conservatism's genuine popularity. His influence as he patiently and entertainingly explains principle in terms of daily events is simply unmatched. There are others behind Rush, from Sean Hannity to Levin to Beck and so on. Each with his own unique style. America knows these people well.

Which means something in the real world of 2010 politics.

Has anyone paid attention to the success of Sean Hannity's Freedom Concerts? Here's a guy who spent his vacation-less August trekking from city to city putting on star-studded musical extravaganzas at the rate of two a weekend from Atlanta to Las Vegas to San Diego and Dallas to Cincinnati to name just a few locations. Sold out crowds. Tens and tens of thousands of people. Millions of dollars raised for a charity, the Freedom Alliance, which in turn has used its funds for, among other things, the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund. A program to help educate the kids of those who were disabled or lost their lives in the military. Hannity pays for chunks of this personally. And the concerts are always presented with the help of Alliance co-founder retired Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and a cast of hundreds.

Does no one think this means anything politically? That there's no message from all those people who show up to cheer on Hannity as he sings (sort of!) "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" with Charlie Daniels fiddling away? Of course there's a message, and that message is about principles. Conservative principles.

Does no one really get the Sharron Angle story? Here is a conservative struggling in her Nevada primary race against more establishment, better-known and financed Republicans. Suddenly she is lifted from obscurity because Levin has taken up her cause -- and now she is the designated terror that Harry Reid is trying to use to scare Nevadans into giving him yet another endless term? Even as Reid's son tries to claim the state's governorship? Of course there's a message here -- a message about conservative principles.

Does no one understand the role of talk radio -- alongside Sarah Palin -- in Joe Miller's apparent lead over the establishment incumbent GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski? Yes, indeed, once again it was Levin at work. Levin plunged into Arizona, and took up the cause of McCain opponent J.D. Hayworth -- losing. But the loss is beside the point. The real point is Levin's understanding that these races for conservatism are won state by state, district by district, one vote at a time, doing the nitty-gritty of hard work all across America.

IT HAS BEEN BEYOND BREATHTAKINGLY foolish for liberals to take a look at the Tea Party movement and shut it out, dismissing the participants as just a bunch of racist, ignorant Nazi-loving nuts. Aside from being insultingly and deliberately bogus, it was mind-bogglingly stupid. A year ago I spent some time in the small town of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, while Senator Arlen Specter was conducting one of those now-famous raucous town hall meetings on health care. The astonished police told me there were at least 1,000 people outside on the streets. I spent time talking with those in the crowd. They were from all across the state. They had taken time off of work to drive to Lebanon. They came on their own. They did not, they made it clear, come because of anyone on the radio or television. They were mad. Furious about what they saw as, in the President's words, an attempt to "fundamentally transform" their country from a set of constitutional principles to some sort of statist utopia.

All of this hot success -- the conservative books, the talk radio shows, the summertime Beck rally and the Hannity concerts, the ratings of Fox News and the prominence of publications like the one you are reading -- combined with the Internet -- are in the process of bringing forth the next chapter in a serious philosophical movement that features a veritable universe of stars past and present discussing in Burkean fashion a timeless set of principles.

From the Edmund Burkes, John Lockes, Adam Smiths and Abraham Lincolns to a Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck and on and on right down to, as was said in the famous Longfellow poem of Paul Revere's ride, "every Middlesex village and farm" -- the conservative revolution flowers. And yes, Beck is correct to include early American religious leaders in this long chain.

Make absolutely no mistake.

Glenn Beck is doing his thing, which only he can do and do well. This is no slam at Beck. It is just an expression of, well, not understanding where he's going with this. Those half million on the mall with him are now part of this chapter of the Conservative Revolution. Whether they were showing up for God or America or tax cuts or to support the troops, whatever it is or was is having an impact. And so too the thousands who showed up at Sean Hannity's Freedom Concerts are part of all of this. Yes, don't forget the people who bought -- and continue to buy --- Mark Levin's book. Or Laura Ingraham's or Ann Coulter's or Michelle Malkin's or -- yes again -- Glenn Beck's. Not to mention who those who voted for Sharron Angle or Joe Miller or conservative candidate X. Or those who tune in faithfully to Rush.

But never forget that the real hero here is, well, you. Or, as Beck might have it, the children of God.

The average American who gets out of bed every single day and raises a family, goes to work, pays the taxes, serves in the military or in some fashion is the driving force in their community.

And the average American is now in open rebellion from coast to coast. Against a ruling class bent on social engineering when they're not busy erasing American history.

The message is timeless. The principles sound. They are colorblind and reject attempts to divide by race, class or religion. And yes, they do have a core that comes from a Judeo-Christian heritage

America, as Ronald Reagan use to say, is an idea. You can move to England yet you will never be an Englishman. You can move to France but you will never be French. But anyone can become an American (legally!). And once here, a realization takes hold, as Levin quotes Reagan in his book.

"Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

Conservatives, Levin noted in his book, need to get busy.

If the Beck rally, the Hannity concerts, the talk radio and Fox ratings, the book sales and the intensity factors of every poll out there are correct -- conservatives are busy.

Millions of you. All at the same time. All in your own way. God's children one and all.

To borrow from James Carville: It's the principles, stupid.

Can you say Amen!


Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Counting the Deaths on Commander-In-Chief Obama's Impotent Hands

As this president will no less take credit for any positive and lay blame for all negative on his Tuesday "War" speech, Obama will more than likely bloviate on his brilliance in winning the war in Iraq. Before he does, a horrifying fact must be made. In the 20 months of this man's presidency, we have lost 632 valiant American lives in Afghanistan, the worst being the last three months, more than under the entire watchful eye of the Bush administration of over 7 years.

Have you heard that in the news?

Shameful. Is there no holding this mainstream media accountable for such debotury?

Obama has announced strategic information to our enemies, putting our brave military in more harm's way than we can imagine. And while he over-indulges himself at the Vineyard on our dime, did it ever enter his mind (or heart ..... oops, doesn't have one) that a phone call or visit to our Soldiers and their families might give them consolation? No, just shoves another ice cream cone in his face.

It's no wonder the "Miss Me Yet?" shirts are outselling all others.

Haystack writes an excellent piece in Red State:

Counting the Deaths on Commander-in-Chief Obama’s Impotent Hands
And asking when Obama will attain full "baby killer" status
by Dave Poff (haystack) - August 30, 2010

I have been watching iCasualties.Org daily for the past 5 weeks. This is not a morbid curiosity; I have done this because I noticed back then that June 2010 was the worst month for US casualties of any so far in the Afghanistan war…ANY point during the 9 years we’ve been fighting it.

I noticed, upon further investigation, that the numbers were on pace to be even worse in July (which they ultimately were) and that there was not one [expletive deleted in deference to the posting guidelines] mention of this anywhere in the major media outlets. I was angry, however unsurprised I might have been, but I determined that I would quietly watch…and “listen”… to the news to see if anyone else was paying attention over these past 5 short weeks. They were not.

Over 50 Soldiers have died since I started paying attention, and the only news story I’ve seen tells of the 7 Soldiers that died last weekend. A death here or 2 or 3 there don’t, apparently, qualify as news. Meanwhile, our metrosexual President (unable to talk to the American people or the families of our fallen heroes because he’s been just too busy riding his girl’s mountain bike adorned in that goofy looking helmet which keeps him safe on his harrowing ride along the treacherous streets of Martha’s Vineyard), seems completely indifferent to these numbers.

I wouldn’t want to talk to these families either, if I were him.

In 86 months the total number of casualties in Afghanistan was 630 under the Bush command. Under Obama’s weak, waffling, hand-wringing and navel-gazing command, in just 19 months, the US casualty count as of August 30, 2010 now surpasses Bush’s numbers, sitting now at a total of 632…and counting. How can this be?

We’ve had 4,763 strategy reviews. We’ve made kissy-face with our enemies. We’ve announced to them that we have a date-certain withdrawal plan if only they could just quiet themselves and wait us out. We’ve changed leadership on the ground, modified the ROE, incorporated the Rahm Emanuel-style approach to winning friends and influencing people there, and we’ve even begun indirect negotiations with our enemy to help facilitate their return to power once we tuck tail and run.

While our former President vacationed on his ranch, running chainsaws and wearing his man pants, he took time to visit Soldiers and the loved ones of the fallen wherever time allowed. He does so still. THIS President, beclowning himself at the Vineyard on our dime playing golf, either misunderstands his role as Commander-in-Chief during hostilities or he doesn’t care. George Bush, while winning (or trying to win) wars endured daily headlines about body counts. He endured countless calls for his resignation or, failing that, his impeachment. George Bush was a lot of things to a lot of people but he always cared about the Soldiers and their families…and he SHOWED it to them on a regular basis. He cared then, and he cares to this very day. Obama clearly does not.

The question now, with Obama’s complete lack of care or concern about the Soldiers or their families or their sacrifices, is when the calls will come from the left for his own resignation or his own impeachment. I’m fairly certain, like the chirping crickets in the headlines across America, I know the answer already.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

CALIF. PRIMARY REMINDER: LAIRD ENDORSED BY OBAMA VS. BLAKESLEE AUG. 17th

Debate Calendar
August 17th is a special state Senate election in a runoff between John Laird (D) and Sam Blakeslee (R). Laird has recently been endorsed by Obama, and if Laird wins, the Democrats would be within one vote of the two-thirds majority they need in the state Senate to approve tax increases and the state budget.  Over the last 19 months, we have witnessed what happens when there is no balance of power.

Both campaigns have been "well-greased with cash", and a write-in ballot will make it easier for California voters off on summer holidays across the district to mail in their vote, so every vote counts.

From The Californian in June:

Monterey County voters have a chance to impact the balance of power in the state Legislature on June 22.

The special primary election to fill the open state Senate seat in District 15 pits Santa Cruz Democrat John Laird against San Luis Obispo Republican Sam Blakeslee. You might call it the battle of the North vs. the South.

Drawn in 2001 to protect a moderate Republican, Abel Maldonado, Senate District 15 has morphed into a Democratic majority. Maldonado's appointment to lieutenant governor earlier this year left the Senate seat open. Republicans are desperate to keep it to prevent Democrats from moving closer to a supermajority in the Legislature with a District 15 victory.
Blakeslee took a 7 percent lead in the June 22nd primary winning 49.4 percent of the vote, just short of the needed 50%. This makes the August 17th runoff critical, as the Democrats hold a 7-point registration edge in the district.  Laird has a record of raising taxes and killing jobs.  Sound familiar?

Let's get out and vote -- time to "take out the trash".

Saturday, August 7, 2010

HOUSE CALLED BACK TO CONGRESS TO PASS MORE BAIL OUTS

In light of the recent Senate vote (thank you Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe) to pass a $26 billion bail out for states and government unions, financed in part by an $11 billion tax hike, Nancy Pelosi smells the blood in the water, and has called congress back from their summer break to pass this in the House so it can be on Obama's desk [quickly, now, it's critical] before anyone has time to think about it.

Rather than cutting the fat and the over spending by government officials, the government uses teachers, firemen, and police -- the people who stand in harms way to protect Americans -- as a ploy to bail out the unions and pensions. A favorite façade of Pelosi's is as always "It's for the children".

Dick Morris asks the good question:

As long as the Democrats control Congress, they will continue to rubber-stamp Obama's requests for bailouts of profligate states. But when the Republicans take control, they will be less than forthcoming. Republicans will ask the central question: Why should taxpayers from states that have cut their budgets and observed spending restraint, pay for the extravagances of the other states? Why should forty-seven states have to pay for California, New York, and Michigan?

Full story here.

The vote is to be taken the week of August 9th. They are not listening to the outcries of Americans, and are instead ruling against the will of the people.  In plain words, we are living in a soft tyranny. We live in the greatest country in the world, and our voices matter.

Grassfire has a contact list with fax numbers here. Speak up, America!  Contact congress today.

The Heritage Foundation writes about the Obama tax hikes, and another step towards a welfare state:

The Obama Tax Hikes, Another Step Toward a European Welfare State
The Heritage Foundation - August 6, 2010

Last night, the Senate voted 61-39 in favor of a $26 billion | bailout for states and government unions financed in part by an $11 billion tax hike that will kill American jobs at U.S. companies that compete overseas. Worse, before that final vote was taken, the Senate also defeated two amendments by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), both by 58-42 votes, that would have prevented the largest tax hike in American history. And earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden told ABC News that the only thing wrong with President Barack Obama's first $862 billion economic stimulus was that it didn't borrow and spend enough.

The message to the U.S. economy's job creators from this Administration and Congress is clear: You can expect higher spending, higher taxes and higher deficits for years to come. The verdict on this approach is in. Today the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor and Statistics released its monthly jobs report showing the economy shed 131,000 jobs in July as 143,000 temporary census workers lost their government jobs. With the private sector only managing to add 71,000 jobs and averaging only 51,000 jobs over the past three months, the private economy appears stuck in first gear. Despite the job losses, the nation's unemployment rate didn't budge from 9.5% because another 181,000 discouraged workers left the workforce. All told the U.S. economy has now lost 2.4 million jobs since President Barack Obama signed his stimulus bill, and his administration is 7.6 million jobs short of what he promised the American economy would support by 2010.

Faced with this failure, the Obama administration wants to double down on its tax and spend policies by hiking taxes on America's job creators. Research on the last seven recessions shows that small businesses generate about two out of every three new jobs during recoveries. But the $3.2 trillion Obama Tax Hike in January will hit these businesses the hardest. As Heritage Foundation analyst Curtis Dubay has detailed, while only eight percent of small businesses pay the highest two tax rates, those businesses earn 72 percent of all small business income and pay 82 percent of all income taxes paid by small businesses. According to a study by the American Family Business Foundation, just stopping President Obama's Death Tax hike alone would create 1.5 million jobs.

But lower taxes and a more dynamic private sector is not the direction that President Obama wants to take the country. Obama's economic direction is obviously not popular among conservatives, and is now becoming less and less popular among independents and liberals. As Slate columnist David Weigel | told National Review's Dan Foster this week: "It is like the biggest failing of Obama, and I keep saying this, that he just can't be honest about the fact that he wants America to be more like Europe. Obviously he does." We couldn't agree more. For two generations after post-war reconstruction, Europe and America have pursued different economic models, and accordingly, moved in different economic directions. The American model was low tax, low spending and small government. It favored growth, income and vibrancy. The European model is high tax, high spending and big government. It favored fairness, equality and stability. It also featured unemployment rates double those of the United States, often hovering around 10 percent. Now that is no longer the case. Under Obama’s economic leadership, U.S. unemployment rates are surpassing Europe’s.

Commenting on President Obama’s budget, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) told National Review Online: "This budget presents a choice of two futures. … This budget is about more than specific programs or policies. It is really about the American idea, and whether we want to move towards a European-style welfare state." Allowing the Obama Tax Hikes to occur will be one huge step down that road. Is that really the choice Americans want to make?

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

DENNIS PRAGER Q&A AT UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

Dennis Prager speaks at the University of Denver, with Sarah Palin and fellow talk show host Hugh Hewitt. For the first time, Dennis talks of the importance of the November 2010 elections as critical. He also speaks about the biggest threat to America, and the "Why" America.

It gives pause for thought, and emphasises the importance of teaching American History year after year after year; we must teach what it means to be an American, and why America is exceptional. America liberates, it does not control. We are the greatest force for good.

America must never forget from whence it came, or the struggle to form a country whose freedom is based on God given rights. Our school system needs an enema, and taken out of the hands of government where it has become politicized.