John Andrews: How to Restore Responsibility

Sep. 5-6, 2011

The Tea Party represents "the hope of America," John Andrews, a Denver Post columnist, said at a recent event. In these days when the left represents the status quo (don't you dare modify Social Security and Medicare), and the right is for change (lower our taxes and stop spending), Andrews advocates a responsibility movement outside the two parties. "We need to fix politics as it is," he said, and he told the audience there are four basic steps we can use to mend it: Self-assertion, self-restraint, self-reliance, and civic knowledge. These are close to some ideas put forth by leftists during the 1960's, but they haven’t opted for them much since. Specific steps, how refreshing!

Self assertion means we push back on government. Self restraint means doing things in an even-toned manner. Mr. Andrews described it as a "musket over the fireplace, break glass in an emergency only" situation. Self reliance says we do enough things ourselves so that government doesn't have to reach in. A case in point is a family taking care of a member instead of relying on Medicare to do it. John Andrews wonders how so many Americans changed their attitudes so quickly - from being ashamed of accepting welfare - to demanding it. Some insist it's a right and not a privilege, and say, "Don't you ever take it away!"

People need to understand the founding documents of the United States. This is known as civic knowledge. For example, many U.S. citizens can't distinguish between Karl Marx' statement, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," and the Declaration of Independence, which says, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." It is surprising to realize that our slanted education system has failed us so horribly. No wonder many clamor for private educations for their children.

Societies follow predictable patterns. History shows that fiscal suicide follows moral suicide in the decline of a civilization. From bondage comes faith. Out of faith comes courage. As with bondage, faith, and courage, each of these follows the other in this order: liberty, abundance, complacency, entitlement, apathy, dependence, and bondage once again. Please think about those items for a moment, and reread them, if you will. Mr. Andrews stated that most civilizations get about 250 years, and this country has reached age 235 this year. "We are in the kill zone," he said. "Time is running out." Then he reminded us there's nowhere else to go in the world if freedom goes out in America. "Don't let it." Let's get to 2076 intact as a nation. As Mr. Andrews put it, "Let's get there and beat the odds." I felt inspired, and I thought the rest of the audience did as well.

I enjoyed John Andrews' latest column, Color the state red in 2012 at www.denverpost.com/andrews. When I read the narrow-minded responses to it there, online, I could only lament that our public education system has failed us. It needs a complete overhaul. The other side is myopic. They see tantrums, psychoses, fanaticism, and hatred where none at all exists. Every response but one seem to insist the right wants to take away people's rights, pollute, and hate gays. How and why do they believe this lie? These folks want to censor Mr. Andrews, and what they said is hateful. Their lack of cohesive thought and absence of intelligent rebuttal is stunning, and a bit disturbing. We must work to change the false perception these extremists have of us on the right. Please read the column and then the responses. You may respond either here or there, if you like.

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See You in September

Aug. 28-29, 2011

In 1966, The Happenings recorded a most memorable version of the song, "See You in September," written by Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards in the late 1950’s. As you read the words here: See You in September, or here: See You in September, you can envision President Obama, assuring America on 8/17/11 that he has a shiny, new employment plan... but you’ll need to wait in order to see what’s in it. He promised to reveal the brand new strategy around Labor Day, in September, or so. Why not help this country in August? Why wait? He’s only been president for two and a half years…

He doesn’t lead, but follows Nancy Pelosi’s convoluted logic. She told us the Congress needed to pass the oversized Obamacare bill because that was the best way to know what was in it. So, don’t you wonder how Mr. Obama will bring Dems and Repubs together – by changing his tune next month?

Is the mainstream media speculating it will be a change in direction for the Obama Administration? A bold compromise is coming, perhaps? Will the New York Times columnist and resident genius Thomas Friedman pine for the Democrats of the past, you know, the meek ones, who were so much more flexible than the liberals of today? No, and no. (There’ll be more on Thomas Friedman in upcoming posts.) The MSM is silent in unison on President Obama’s softening because they believe that even more spending and Robin Hood robbin’ the ‘hood is the solution. Whenever he deems it time, President Obama will tell us about another massive stimulus to rebuild roads and bridges, because it’s obvious to the left that this is what’s required for recovery – even though this method failed last time. But why compromise? The millionaires and billionaires will have to be punished because they took risks and profited. More green, energy jobs are required, too, of course (but we won’t be allowed to drill for our abundant supplies of oil). We’ll need to spend even more of our children’s money – which we don’t have. America will fall further into debt, and disrepute. What will the world think of America then? Well, the MSM doesn’t care what the world thinks this time ‘round. The left will not touch entitlements, which are sorely in need of reform. The party of heck, no just won’t change course. Never, not ever.

To paraphrase the song: We’ll see the president in September, when the summer’s through. Summer vacation’s taking the president away. Hope he has a good time at Martha’s Vineyard, but remember, there’s danger for delaying too long. As he plays in a resort, and while the economy withers and his people suffer, we’ll be counting the days, hours, and minutes until he reveals a strategy to fix the economy. We’ll see him in September… maybe. Good luck until then.

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Queen of The Stage

Aug. 20 and 22, 2011

As a photo editor of my college newspaper, I can tell you that when a media outlet plans to show a visual of someone, they choose from dozens of photos of that person. These are generally taken from different angles and distances and can be complimentary or not, depending upon the editor's feelings or views at the moment. When I saw Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) on the August 15, 2011 cover of Newsweek, I wasn't surprised. This magazine and the mainstream media (MSM) wants to hurt conservatives, and the editors of Newsweek decided to hit on Bachmann this time.

On the front of Newsweek, Rep. Bachmann looks stunned, out-of-place, and a little crazy. The cover’s title is, The Queen of Rage. Bachmann is neither a queen, nor raging. Not rage, but Queen of the Stage, perhaps. She has some good ideas, has presented them with a toughness we haven't seen in a while, and it might help if we listened to her. The subtitle, oozing with liberal sarcasm, says, Michelle Bachmann on God, The Tea Party, and the Evils of Government. These are three topics liberals have trouble addressing these days. When faced with any one of them, they usually get angry and begin cursing (ie. Rep. Maxine Waters).

Carrying the banner of the MSM’s new mantra is Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). He and the MSM say the popularity of the Tea Party is sagging. The polar opposite is true, of course, in the face of our out-of-control, leader-less, and thrashing economy. The Newsweek states, in lyrical rhyme, “…a new poll shows the Tea Party’s popularity flagging.”

Feeling compelled to purchase a copy of Newsweek with the Bachmann cover, I did so while on vacation in the small and beautiful town of Glenwood Springs, CO. As I fell in line behind a woman also buying a copy, I spoke up. “Don’t you think they might have found a better photo of Michelle Bachmann?” I asked. The lady replied, “No,” and with firm conviction told me she always sees Michelle Bachmann that way. “She’s so angry.” The man behind the counter added, “She says crazy things. Everything she says is religious.” Everything - she - says. Hmmm. What’s wrong with religion, anyway? Small-town America sure isn’t living up to its reputation of clinging to its guns and religion anymore, is it? Throw the old generalizations out, the liberals have taken over the backwoods, all the while clinging to the ACLU, their mainstream media, and their atheism!

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Millionaires and Billionaires

Aug. 16, 2011

Radio personality Mark Levin asked us to do the math. There are less than 500 billionaires in the U.S. at this time and there are about 3.1 million millionaires*. President Obama keeps talking about taxing these guys to fix the failing economy. If only we force them to do their fair share, our debt of $14 trillion would come right on down. Never mind that this argument is class warfare, let’s analyze it.

Forget about taxing the Richie Rich’s at 40% or 50% of their annual income. Let’s get crazy. If we took half of the billionaires’ total wealth away, which would be far greater than the amount we could actually tax them, the resulting amount would come to only about $250 billion, assuming each one is worth $1 billion. The millionaires, because there are so many more of them, have a far greater share. They own about $3.2 trillion all told, assuming each is worth $1 million.

If we took half of the millionaires’ assets, it would total $1.75 trillion. Adding the billionaires’ contribution, this adds up to about $2 trillion. This unrealistic total (we can’t tax anyone by taking half their total assets), doesn’t even come close to our current $14 trillion debt. Congress recently raised the debt ceiling, so the debt will now be allowed to rise to over $17 trillion. This is only a theoretical argument. If it really happened, many of our companies would collapse, as would the entire economy. I’m glad we checked, though.

When the president says that if only millionaires and billionaires would do their fair share the U.S. debt would go away, he’s blowing hot air up your skirt. We know, ‘cause we just did the math!

*The data in this post was retrieved mostly from Wikipedia. On Aug. 20, 2011, on Fox and Friends, it was revealed by Wall Street Journal economics reporter Kelly Evans that there were only 237,000 millionaires as of 2009, down from the previous year. If this is correct, and it's a true trend, then my data for revenue is less than 10% of what I said it would be. Millionaires would account for only about $230 billion, and not 3.2 trillion, and that makes my argument that much stronger. I apologize for my error.

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America's Downgrade

Aug. 9, 2011

The erosion of our country continued last week with the downgrade of America’s bond rating. Standard & Poors, an actual investment intelligence company, has changed their rating of U.S. credit as AA+ as opposed to AAA. The Obama administration, at the grand old age of 2 1/2, disagrees. S+P has been around a little longer. About 150 years more, so, they may be slightly more knowledgeable than the president’s men. Of course, you can read about it at:

S&P web site

Our president continues to lead us down the wrong path. He warned us that changes were coming – and, like Ed McMahon introduced Johnny Carson, they’re heeeeeere. A failed stimulus, higher gas prices, debt, and unemployment, a bad economy, and now a debilitating downgrade. It occurred because Mr. President and his Democrats wouldn’t compromise. They’re stubborn. This is the true party of “no.” They laid the evidence down before us when they refused to even discuss the Bush plan to fix Social Security in the middle of the last decade. Jason Mattera said just yesterday that if government spending (Obama’s stimulus) were “this nirvana,” we’d be seeing the results by now. He reminded us that after the Bush tax cuts, we were at 4.6% unemployment, the Dow [Jones] was around 14,000, and there was more revenue flowing into the treasury than ever.

America finds itself on par with countries like Belgium.

Remember that Mr. Obama told the Egyptians in Cairo that [our] colonialism denied rights to many Muslims and that [western] civilization has a debt to Islam. He stood up for a citizen against a law enforcement officer early in his presidency, before learning all the facts of the case. He once explained that American exceptionalism is the very same as Greek or British exceptionalism. Except that it’s not.

Recall his inaugural address: “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality... and lower its costs. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.” Oh, really, a new age of…America down the toilet? November, 2012 can’t come soon enough for me. Let’s plan to vote this guy and his destructive policies and administration out of office!

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What’s President Obama Talking About?

Aug. 03, 2011

President Obama’s been telling us that the rich folks need to pay their fair share of taxes. Someone needs to educate him. The upper 50% of wage earners already pay approximately 97% of the income taxes collected in this country. So, what’s he talking about? What is his angle?

The president said that Republicans only want to cut taxes and cut spending. He said, while offering no plan of his own, that conservatives did nothing to promote increasing government revenue. If the economic climate favors businesses, more people will be hired – which would then add to the taxpayer’s numbers, thereby increasing dollars coming into the treasury. He doesn’t understand this simple concept. I’ve noticed he’s now using the term corporations, instead of big business. But we know he’s talking about those pesky capitalists. Those who take the risks deserve the rewards, Mr. President.

Karl Marx, the father of modern Communism, referred to capitalists as vampires sucking workers’ blood. He felt the worker class was exploited by capitalists. Communists like to divide people into economic classes to alienate them from each other. Trust me, I know. They love to talk about the upper, middle, and lower classes. The Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Canada talks about class struggle. This document, written in 1944, states that common property (private property, seized by government) will remove “the greatest of the burdens resting today on the backs of the workers.” My own father, a self-admitted Communist, told me many times that capitalists make money off the backs of the workers.

Once again, President Obama spoke today about the debt ceiling debate. And, once again he divided us. The great divider said, “We can’t balance the budget on the backs of the very people who have borne the biggest brunt of this recession. We can’t make it tougher for young people to go to college or ask seniors to pay more for health care or ask scientists to give up on promising medical research because we couldn’t close a tax shelter for the most fortunate among us.” I understand you don’t have to be a Communist or a socialist to slam the rich. If he’s not either of those, though… what is he talking about?

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Who’s President Obama Talking About?

July 26, 2011

President Obama has conceded in a speech on July 25, 2011, that U.S. government spending is out of control. However, he said the money went for tax cuts, two wars, and prescription drugs. He forgot to mention the $800+ billion he threw away on a so-called stimulus plan (which failed). A $trillion more in debt will be incurred from his ill-conceived health care plan, due to his fiscal incompetence. The president has said recently that we need to behave like grown-ups, relax our rhetoric, roll up our sleeves, and work together. He then stomped out of meetings he held with Republicans and blamed them for the nation’s troubles. So much for following his own advice!

Our partisan-in-chief never conceded an inch during this deficit debate. It’s always their fault. Evil rich people make too much, he’s said. They won’t carry the load. However, he didn’t mention that the wealthy already pay the majority of taxes in this country. They create jobs. All right, not every rich person, but some do it indirectly. Rich folks don’t save money like we do. They don’t use a savings account for most of their money. Instead, investment vehicles are used. Believe it or not, most – if not all – do it this way. Even those we believe are sponging off their mommies and daddies. So, they are responsible for most of the investments made in our economy. Take their money, and most likely, you take one of our jobs away.

The wealthy are not always our heroes, I get it. Some spend foolishly, as our perception would have us believe. $750 on a pair of shoes disgusts most of us, and the gut reaction is to hate the idiots for it. But, realize where their money goes. Their extravagance pays for part of someone’s job in the shoe store. Or, $900 on a single seat at Yankee Stadium might pay for just one more vendor. The $70,000 automobile purchase could help one car salesman keep his job a week longer. Think about what good things a $20-$50 million private jet purchase can do for someone. Let’s not be jealous, let’s be thankful.

When President Obama says he wants to make millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share, let’s remember - he’s talking about those who make $250,000 a year or more. Those from that group making less than $1 million a year are NOT millionaires, so who’s he talking about? One day it might just be you!

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