Restoring America, The Beginning

   As promised the first of my observations about getting America back on the right path is about to begin. Please keep in mind that leftist hate mongers have been nibbling away at our nation and our freedoms for the better part of a century now. Anyone who expects the Republicans, who still only control the House and Senate and not the Presidency, to turn this mess around overnight..... is clearly delusional.

   The hammering of the party by the liberal media has already begun. It will only get worse and more abusive as time passes..... so steel yourself for that eventuality. Here is the media template so you'll be ahead of their game. 1st. Everything that goes wrong anywhere on earth.... and possibly outer space too.... will be blamed on the Republicans.  2nd. The media will scour the earth to find things they can credit Obama for. If someone develops a cure for cancer it will somehow be because of Obama.

   Be ready for the ridiculousness of their contortions. More importantly..... be prepared to laugh at them as they twist themselves into knots. It will be great fun! Also it is a good time for us to use one of Saul Alinsky's rules for radicals points against the liberal media to neuter them every time they go far left. (which is each time the either speak or publish) Mr. Alinsky wrote 12 rules which are helpful in advancing the leftist agenda but nowhere in his rule book was it written that the right couldn't use them against the left. Here is one we can use against the leftist media daily.

* RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They use this to create anger and fear.)

   Quite simply..... call them out when they go far left and make asses of themselves by doing so. Laugh at them and make fun of their overreach and twisting of reality to advance their agenda. Give them no slack and no quarter. FORCE them to start being journalists rather than liberal operatives.

   Because there is still a democrat in the White House the only power the Republicans have is total control of the purse strings and total control over legislative issues. That is a lot of power right there but there is more. Because both the House and  Senate have oversight responsibilities of various agencies they will finally be able to start holding those agencies responsible for their actions. Democrats can still bitch and moan about it but because they are the minority that's all they can do. 

   If not for democrats running political interference for agencies like the D.O.J. (Holder and the Fast and Furious debacle) and the I.R.S. and their political targeting of conservative groups prior to the 2012 election cycle..... thus illegally influencing the outcome of the election...... we would have seen some justice by this time. We should hope to start seeing progress on both of those fronts soon. 

   I say hope because the Republican establishment still has no clue about who they are and what is expected of them. They are  kittens in a fighting arena with  pit bulls. Politics for the democrats is a blood sport and they always fight to win. Even when they get their ass handed to them they will still flip you the bird on the way to the ER for stitches. Republicans are all about being fair and trying to get along..... exercising comity and civility.

   All those things are nice a wonderful..... as long as the other side is abiding by them too. Democrats, however, only abide by the rules which benefit them and the advancement of their agenda, though. Rules of conduct and procedure which do not benefit them are routinely ignored. If all else fails then things like the "Reid Rules" are passed so as to eliminate the minority voice. 

   Oddly enough even after the Reid Rules were passed the Republican minority was still routinely blamed for being obstructionists. Now they could not offer amendments to legislation, they could not propose legislation, they could not filibuster and they lacked the votes to stop the passage of legislation. Yet they were magically able to obstruct things! That is the power of the liberal media. The one obstructing everything was none other than Harry Reid....... who, like Obama, was always seen on camera speaking in opposition to the very thing of which he was guilty.

   Starting points.  What is obvious to me is that the biggest issue the Republicans have to tackle is that of their brand and identity. They absolutely MUST figure out who they are and what they stand for. It's common sense. If you have no idea where you are when you start a journey there is no way to can plot a course to your destination.

   That is because the direction to your destination isn't known without first knowing where you stand in relation to that destination.  Pick any city on a map. That is a fixed goal. If you picked Kansas City and you know you're in Denver..... then you know which way to go and what roads you need to take to get there. If you picked Kansas City but have no earthly idea what city you're in....... you are what we term..... LOST!

   Due to the three factions of the republican party each having a different starting point there are three different directions possible to reach a destination. But until the party unifies, the three different groups can't even agree on what that destination is! The driver wants to move left  towards conciliation while the guy in the passenger seat is happy going right down the middle of the road.... and the backseat driver is yelling, "TURN RIGHT!!! TURN RIGHT!!!"

   Because the guy behind the wheel (establishment republicans) has the most control the others have to mutually agree on a destination AND direction...... then convince the driver to go along with them. These two groups..... although they don't hold high offices.... still have a LOT of power. Their power is in their numbers and their wallets. Those in office need the mothers milk of politics.... money.  Stop financially supporting folks who are not listening to you and they start to get their hearing back. Better still..... support those who DO listen to you and save yourself some trouble.

   The party MUST unify as conservatives on ALL fronts. Conservatism is maligned because it is misunderstood and our side has done nothing to dispel the negative media hype. Conservatism is no more scary than running the nation the same way you have to run your household. You have so much income to work with each month so you structure your life so as to (hopefully) spend less than you earn. Anything left over is saved for an emergency.

   Our nation USED to operate that way. If we are to survive we have to get back to operating that way again. Since Republicans are the majority in Washington DC now they MUST both get that message out and EXPLAIN it clearly to the American people. While that ought not be necessary.... we have kids in college who DO NOT know who won the civil war, DO NOT know from whom we won our independence and can't even tell you who the sitting vice president is!!!! (more scary that that is that ALL of those kids can VOTE in elections!)

While you shudder in terror of that last revelation I'm going to get a cup of hot chocolate and chill for the balance of the evening. (which is easy to do thanks to global warming and the projected low of 23 degrees tonight) More to come soon!

Okay... Republicans won...... but will they LEAD?

   The mid-term elections turned out pretty much like everyone was predicting. The voters sent a message that the "progressive" agenda was officially being rejected. Everyone who really wanted to live in the old Khrushchev era Soviet Union should have already moved there by now. We normal Americans pretty much like our nation as founded and do not feel the need to tear it down and try the Soviet experiment all over again here. That system has proven a failure every single time it has been tried and different people in charge with more initial money will not make it work because it is a fundamentally flawed system. 

   As I see it the biggest problem the republicans face when they officially take control of the house and senate isn't what you're probably thinking it is. You're thinking their big problem will be obstructionist liberals. Yes... they will be an annoyance but they are not the BIG problem the republicans face. If you're thinking Obama or his lapdog media you're wrong again. Those are fly's and gnat's..... annoying but not the true problem. So what IS the big problem the republicans face?? Themselves.

   Frankly republicans these days have absolutely no clue who they are or what they stand for. That problem begins with the three separate divisions of the party. Those who actually wield the power are the minority and represent the first division.... the "inside the beltway" republicans. Most of these folks cannot remember what America is or how it works. They can no longer even relate to the average working man and his (or her) daily struggle. To them a billion dollars is a rounding error. To the average man even a hundred dollars extra a month makes a huge difference. One simply cannot relate to the other...... those in Washington are completely disconnected and out of touch.

   The second division is the average middle America republican or even conservative. Perhaps more than a few Reagan democrats fall into this division as well. These are the bread and butter, nuts and bolts hard working Americans who get up every day and do their best at whatever it is their lot in life to do each day. They generally don't fuss about much of anything and they are generally not really political. They vote republican because in the old days that party pretty much stayed out of their way and out of their lives. They work, pay their increasing tax burden, go to church, take responsibility for their lives and their actions and generally just want to be left alone.

   The third division is the TEA Party republicans. For the most part this group mirrors the 2nd division but they choose NOT to sit on the sidelines any more. This bunch IS politically active and they are not shy about it either! Another name for them might be "Constitutional Conservatives" because that is their basic platform. They believe that government has grown too much.... gotten too big, too powerful and too intrusive. It has to be brought back under the control of the people. 

   Government intrusions and overreach have reached critical levels. Entire agencies have turned political and have now started attacking political entities with whom they disagree. (IRS targeting anyone?)  Other agencies, like the justice department, also turned political and were guilty of selective prosecution.

   Two of the more egregious examples are refusing to prosecute those black panther members who were clearly intimidating voters. Then they turn right around and press charges against gun shop owners who were cooperating with the BATF and FBI in the fast and furious debacle. They were instructed by agents of those agencies to ignore established law and make weapons sales they otherwise would have refused to complete.

   The reward for their cooperating with their government was to be prosecuted and loose their inventory, physical assets, and freedom too! Both are clear examples of government that is working against the people rather than for them.

   Progressives have turned things around over the last 100 years until the people serve government and not the other way around. The way the leftists flouted the one party passage of Obamacare did not sit well with anyone outside the beltway that still cares about America. We saw it as both a blatant money grab and a means by which the government could exercise even more control over us.

   23 times Obama stood in front of the cameras and repeated the lies.... "If you like your health plan you can keep it. If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor."  Say that once and you might be able to claim you misspoke. 23 times is a deliberate LIE designed expressly to fool the people..... or at least those uninformed who vote democrat out of habit rather than conscious thought.

   The leftists and the media (sorry for repeating myself there) are both already telling the republicans what they must do to accommodate the new minority party. Top on their list is repealing the "Reid Rules" which made the republicans irrelevant in the senate. They were not permitted to offer any amendments to legislation and could no longer use the filibuster to stop passage of bad legislation.

   The Reid Rules gave the democrats free reign and the republicans had no way to stop them. NOW those same democrats are telling us that the Reid Rules were a bad idea and the republicans really need to restore the procedures to they way they had been since Thomas Jefferson. I personally hope the republicans leave them in place until Obama is out of office. When the democrats start whining and crying simply reply..... you thought the Reid Rules were a great idea when YOU passed them.... and right now.... we happen to agree with you..... so shut up and sit down!

   All those issues aside the republicans really need to figure out who they are and start acting like a real political party again. They have played the roll of floor mat very well.... but for far too long. Now it's time to grow a spine. It's also way past time to begin to articulate to the American people who they are and what they stand for. (As soon as they figure those two points out themselves)

   The minority, inside the beltway, republicans have got to realize that they ARE a very small part of the party even if they do wield the actual political power. The fact that they DO wield the power is what makes them SO resistant and reluctant to change. Power is very intoxicating and highly addictive. No one who has a lot of power ever really wants to give it up.

   Therein lies the problem. Even though they are the minority so far as numbers go..... because they wield the power they BELIEVE that everyone must bow to their will and do whatever they say. 99% of them have completely forgotten that "Of the people, By the people and For the people" thing and honestly believe the real power is theirs.... NOT ours. That attitude has got to be changed!

   My biggest personal irritant is how absolutely bone headed and flat out stupid the republican elites have been and what that stupidity has cost them. America COULD have been well on the way to complete restoration right now...... but the inside the beltway elites decided to go to war with fellow conservatives. Why? Because they want limited government..... and THAT threatens the power of the elite!

   Remember that third division...... the TEA Party? Millions and millions of loyal Americans who just want the out of control government brought back under control and the constitution followed as the Founders intended. Rather than see the TEA Party as millions of certain republican votes and people we need on our side to WIN..... the elites only saw them as a threat to their power.

   So the elites talked bad about them...... marginalized them..... ignored them and impugned them. Of course the liberal media was all to eager to help too! It was a win win for them. They got to talk bad about a segment of America they hate (real Americans) and they got to help guarantee the republican elite major losses for the foreseeable future too!

   Had they instead embraced the TEA party they would have instantly been an unbeatable majority. Millions and millions of certain votes...... organized and motivated troops on the ground and ready to do whatever was legally necessary for victory. Instead they chose to keep their personal power and doom their party for it.

   The media is going to try to spin this election in favor of the republican elite by saying that the TEA party is who was really rejected..... NOT Obama and the leftist agenda. The media wants the TEA party to be marginalized because they truly fear the power of the people. They understand how dangerous the TEA party is to politics as usual inside the beltway and how any real change to that power structure affects the media's ability to wield their own brand of power and influence.

   Here is a current example of what I am talking about. This in John Boehner speaking about his own party at a conference.  

"During his Franchise Association speech, the House Republican lamented that he has a “paper majority” because some members of his party don’t toe the establishment line.

“On any given day, 16 of my members decide they’re going to go this way, and all the sudden I have nothing,” Boehner said. “You might notice I have a few knuckleheads in my conference.”

Boehner was likely referring to disagreements he’s had with more conservative members of his party this year. In February, the House leader declared that politicians with Tea Party ties had “lost all credibility” as budget-related drama unfolded in Washington.

   This is a PRIME example of the party being at war with itself. The TEA party members represent US!!! We are, indirectly, the knuckleheads Boehner is talking about because those TEA party folks represent US and are doing what WE want them to do. Boehner is pissed because they ARE doing what WE want and not "toeing the party line" as he puts it. How about the establishment republicans climb off their high horse and toe OUR line for a change? 

 

   If the republicans can only accomplish unifying their own party..... that will be progress enough for me to be happy.  Once unified republicans would essentially be unbeatable since they truly are the majority of Americans. Fractured and fragmented as they are now they are still easy prey for the "go for the throat" leftist politics. 

   Is there more that they need to do..... absolutely! And I'll comment on what some of those things are in my next posting.