Virginia's 11th, 2010

I live in Virginia's 11th Congressional District, where the Republican primary is scheduled for June 8.  I have ample reason to be interested in this fact.  VA-11 is currently represented in Congress by the most contemptibly liberal Democrat you could imagine - Gerry Connolly.  Mr. Connolly is a freshman Representative who richly deserves to be recognized with the "one and done" award come November.

1)  First and foremost, he has a 100% Pelosi Index.

2)  He's also careless about his political associations with America's avowed enemies.

3)  And at his contemptible worst, he actually tried to have an elderly constituent arrested by the Capitol police during the peaceful November 5 Emergency House Call rally.

In short, Connolly is the very embodiment of the mindlessly ideological Progressive technocrat that was swept into office in 2008.  Connolly has to go, and I want to make sure his general election opponent is the best possible choice to send him packing.

As I have made clear during this blog project, I am philosophically conservative with strong libertarian leanings, and I have voted (R) all of my adult voting life.  But make no mistake, the voting pattern is simply a pragmatic response to the voting options that have been placed before me in each cycle at each location.  For example, had I been an adult at the time, I'm certain I would have voted James Buckley over Jacob Javits for NY Senator in '68.  More recently, I would have enthusiastically voted Doug Hoffman in NY-23, had I been eligible in that district.

I think I have also clearly (or "transparently" if you prefer) stated my opinion that the best 2010 electoral strategy for the great American Conservative majority (or TEA Party patriots, if you prefer) is to support the most solidly conservative candidate in each district; whether the party label be Republican, TEA, or Independent.  (Conservative Democrat became an extinct species around approximately 1972.)

So, what are my options this time?  Not bad, actually.  The Republican primary is a two man race between two guys who seem to be competing for the vote of guys like me.  The contestants are Keith Fimian (who lost to Connolly in the 2008 Progressive wave) and Pat Herrity (a local county supervisor).

They are remarkably similar in their policy positions.  Most importantly to me, both have pledged to repeal ObamaCare.  They also both present themselves as tax cutters (although this conservative blogger points out a contradiction in Herrity's record.)  Fimian is running as the "outsider" businessman with no previous political background.  But he was nominated by the party in 2008. Herrity may be the GOP insider's candidate in 2010, he's got more elected pol endorsements on his official site.   Neither candidate is anywhere near being able to match Connolly's fundraising war chest.

I don't know yet who I will vote for in the primary.  Perhaps one or the other will self-disqualify himself with a stupid ad that ticks me off.  We'll see.

But this much I am sure of:  I will vote for the winner of this primary in the general, and the loser in the primary had better not pull a Charley Crist in the general.  The objective in 2010 is to save the republic from contemptible Progressive ideologues like Connolly, and I will never forgive any Republican who puts personal gain ahead of the republic.

Update May 2, 2010: Just Because My Telephone Is a Camera Too

Contemporary Politics and Newton’s Three Laws of Motion (Part 4)

In an earlier post [blog archive : “Contemporary Politics and Newton’s Three Laws of Motion” : January 11, 2010], I set up a thesis behind this blog project. The thesis, in a nutshell, is:

• The American people are a naturally Conservative people (whether they know it or not).
• The American people are a naturally apolitical people (and resent being made to activate politically).
• Committed Progressive ideologues have seized the American political system.
• The Excesses perpetrated by these Progressive ideologues have finally awoken the American Conservative majority.
• A Conservative Ascendancy is in progress that will result in a historic electoral collision in November 2010.

In other words, this year’s election cycle can be analyzed through the prism of a simple Newtonian physics equation: F = m * a.

The good citizens of the 48th state (Arizona) have taken principled federalist action to add acceleration toward the inevitable November collision. Unless you remain among the shrinking minority of American citizens glued to your couch, you are surely aware Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed on April 23 a state law making it a crime to be an illegal alien in Arizona. Why has a controversy erupted over someone passing a law that says it is illegal to be illegal? Sounds obvious enough, doesn't it?  The answer is we are living through an exceptional period of history I call "Liberty vs. Tyranny USA 2010."

Following is the concluding paragraph to my January 1, 2010 post (“Baseline Thoughts – Liberty and the Constitution”):

I believe 2010 will be a good year for the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. Amendment 9 – Construction of the Constitution - “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. “ Amendment 10 – Powers of the States and People - The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” In other words, the national government is strictly limited by the language in the document, the states and people are not.

In a large sense, the good citizens of Arizona are continuing to fulfill my prediction. In Liberty vs. Tyranny USA 2010, this is a continuation of the fall-out from so-called “Health Care Reform” (HCR) - which is in fact the soon to be recognized as historic Nullification movement. (Which will make a lot of news independent of the separate and distinct movement to repeal the law at a federal level)

The good citizens of Arizona finally became exasperated with waiting for the federal government to control the border with Mexico, and being overwhelmed by Mexican-sourced crime as a result. And make no mistake – all the citizens of Arizona really want is for the border to be under control. Just as a vast majority of American citizens only wanted Congress to control health care costs. And that’s what’s instructive here.

The Progressives are incapable of doing anything constructive without trying to remake everything all at once. They cannot “reform” any system, without tearing it completely apart and rebuilding from scratch according to their preset ideological blueprint. We Conservatives are proponents of taking incremental steps. Take a step, measure the result, take the next step with the benefit of learned experience. 2010 is the year you will need to choose once and for all what philosophy makes more sense to you.

BHO and the Progressives cannot and will not control the border until they can tackle so-called “comprehensive” reform that includes their goal of amnesty for illegal aliens. It is an entirely political posture, because they seek to add this demographic to their permanent voting bloc of government clients. The sliver of good news here is the good citizens of Arizona knocked BHO and the Progressives off their agenda, which was supposed to be entirely focused on so-called “comprehensive” Financial Reform. (This assault on Wall Street is of course fundamentally another industry takeover, but it’s complicated, so they think they can slip it through politically. They are probably right, unfortunately.)

The Left’s reaction to the good citizens of Arizona is also sadly predictable. They are predictably organizing their grievance constituencies into angry mobs, and submitting law suits to protect “civil rights” that don’t exist. The President of all the United States even got into the act by urging his demographically defined political base into action. Look for this agitation to escalate quickly. The biased MSM will be predictably behind in reporting it to you.

According to now established protocol, each LibertyAtStake post with the Newtonian theme must now include a Thermotron update. The “Events” poster child is by now obvious.

The “Leftie Lunacy” poster child is none other than our old friend from BHO’s home state of Illinois – the disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich. Mr. Blagojevich is exercising his Constitutional right to a fair trial by insisting BHO testify to his involvement in the selling of his former US Senate seat. Consequently, the probability of eventual impeachment for Barack Hussein Obama is now an even bet.

On the “GOP/TEA Party Alignment” front I am calling out a common enemy to make a point – Ed Rendell. This Democrat Governor of Pennsylvania made some remarks over the weekend criticizing the ability of the TEA Party to organize. Mr. Rendell misses the point. It’s not the depth of the TEA Party “organization” he should worry about, it’s the breadth.   To make this point “artistically,” I created a YouTube playlist I call “The United States of T.E.A. Party, 2010.” It literally consists of precisely one video from each state in the union, ordered by the date each state entered the union. The point here is just that the playlist was very easy to assemble.   View it here. You can use the following as a scorecard to follow along. (It will render a stand-alone blogger page with a table of 50 data rows, one per video in the playlist.)

Note also, Mr. Rendell, TEA Party patriots vote on principle. By contrast, the Democrat “base” by-and-large votes based on what the government has lately done for them, and the Democrats have given them very little this session. That’s why firing up “Latinos” over this will prove to be a political mistake. Once again, the Democrats have raised someone's expectations, and once again they won’t deliver. There is zero chance of passing an immigration bill before the election.  I predict a low turnout for the Democrat "base" in November.

Conspiracy Is As Conspiracy Does

Conspiracy is thick in the air of the American body politic this week. The conservative mind finds this condition simultaneously amusing and alerting.

Conspiracy theories are generally anathema to the conservative mind. We conservatives believe the most prosperous economies are those economies driven by the uncounted self-directed decisions made by individual producers and consumers. We conservatives know every top-down command driven economy in history has failed to produce prosperity for any but the elitists making the central planning decisions.

Conservatism is rooted in an understanding of the human condition. We know this universal truth every beat cop knows: any conspiracy is immediately doomed the moment you put each suspect under separate questioning. In normal conditions, holding together a massive conspiracy seems a metaphysical impossibility to the conservative mind. The conspiracy theories that seem to stick with us – 9/11 Truthers, Who Shot JFK, Bush and Enron, Cheney and Halliburton – are generally kept on life support by agitators from the Left.

However, another important attribute of the conservative mind is this: observing reality as it exists in the present, and reaching pragmatic (non-ideological) conclusions about just what the hell is going on. BHO and the Progressives have given us ample reason to start seriously considering conspiracy theories. They have lately been living up fully to Rush Limbaugh’s label as “The Regime.” So, today’s post is an uncharacteristic indulgence in conspiracy theory – just an intellectual exercise, mind you.

The last caller into my favorite morning talk radio show – WMAL’s Christ Plante Show – gave me a jump start on this post. A man identifying himself as ‘Martin,’ and speaking in an Arabic accent, called in to remind us of the old Bush/Enron chestnut. Mr. Plante immediately recognized it as the usual Leftie tactic of distraction, then shooed him away by joking Barry and Ken Lay are really the same man. That’s one for the republic.

But I digress. ‘Martin’ is merely symbolic of what’s wrong with Leftie governance. Progressives are the ideology of “groupthink.” Their small circle of thought leaders create the message, their well-heeled and well-funded organizations promote the message by any means available, and their brown shirts (like ‘Martin’) fall right in line with the message.  The 'groupthink' inevitably leads toward the disaster of lemmings marching over the edge.  While the march is in progress, the appearance of conspiracy comes naturally to these people.

Is it a coincidence the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into Goldman Sachs was launched simultaneous with Barry’s latest legislative push, so-called “Financial Reform?” Maybe not when the permanent campaign theme in this effort is demonization of Wall Street. Was it coincidence on Tax Day when an astro-turf web site popped up to promote the same lie Barry promoted with a lame joke in front of a partisan crowd? Was it coincidence when the story of rate hikes by Anthem Blue Cross / Blue Shield in California broke just as ObamaCare looked like it was on the ropes?

First, there’s no way to really know until We The People retake Congress and get a hold of the investigative committees with jurisdiction. But, we can certainly say a pattern is developing, can’t we? Who knows, maybe it’s the kind of pattern that could result in the suspects being separated out for individual testimony in front of the relevant Congressional committees, beginning in 2011.

The Progressives have two huge problems here. First, their propensity for “groupthink” will continue to produce the appearance of conspiracy, and constantly fuel the suspicion. Second, the wide open information age we live in will prevent them from controlling the population’s perception – except for anyone still blind enough to get all their information from the criminally biased MSM, a shrinking minority of the population.


Footnote – A Trip Down ClimateGate Memory Lane

Hey, who remembers the breakup of the Progressive conspiracy over man-made Global Warming? Video courtesy of Minnesotans for Global Warming (M4GW). (Get it – they think they might like Minnesota to be warmer.)

Contemporary Politics and Newton’s Three Laws of Motion (Part 3)

Future historians will look back at this April 15, and the plethora of associated TEA Party rallies, as the turning point where the TEA Party snowball started rolling downhill toward electoral victory in November.

How can you tell? You can tell because MSM is updating the narrative. They’ve still got it wrong, but now they are at least trying to understand it rather than dismiss it out of hand.

The default narrative of a violent mob is dead – they can no longer ignore the record still stands at zero arrests. The new narrative apparently is we’re educated, privileged, grumpy, and stingy. (Think “Grumpy Old Men Activate Politically."  We’ve come a long way from David Brooks’ awful and infamous “Educated Class” opinion column – [blog archive : ’Debating Mr. Brooks’ : January 5, 2010]).

On Tax Day, the NY Times published poll results that have since been at the root of the MSM’s so-called “analysis.”  My favorite is this essay assignment the Times gave to a gaggle of its paid pseudo-intellectuals. It reads like a standard issue faculty lounge debate - you know, the kind that endlessly circles the drain without ever actually hitting the pipe.

Memo to MSM pseudo-intellectuals: to determine what we want, just read a brief document released the same day – it’s called the Contract from America. This document “transparently” states what we want. And we intend to sweep the House clean in November as the first step toward attaining it.

In my post "Contemporary Politics and Newton’s Three Laws of Motion (Part 2)" [blog archive : January 28, 2010], I wrote:

“The wheels are coming off for the Obama administration. The wheels are coming off for the Democrat party. The wheels are coming off for the regulatory/campus/newsroom complex. The wheels are coming off for the American Progressive project.”

I was right then, and I remain right now. The Progressives are just now becoming vaguely aware of this reality - that’s why they are wildly groping around for a new narrative to stall the TEA Party movement, as in this truly awful Washington Post analysis. I think I’ll take a pass on the “Debating Mr. Dionne” post as a total waste of time.

Also, the Agitator-In-Chief has been out on the perpetual campaign trail sticking his foot in his mouth. On Tax Day he was in Florida addressing a partisan fundraising crowd.  The Agitator-In-Chief told us we should be thankful for the chump change tax credits we have received so far.  Never mind the multi-trillion dollar bill we know is inevitable given his obscene deficit spending. The arrogance of this big lie drove me to create a new feature I call the “I’m Amused” Poll. Maybe it’s a coincidence an astro-turf web site devoted to the same lie popped up at the same time, but I kind of doubt it. You know, it’s almost as if the Leftie machine has a daily conference call …. Oh wait, there is that Podesta thing.  Memo to Lefties: Tightly coordinated central planning transmits bad ideas as quickly as it transmits good ideas.

Tax Day also gave us the perfect ‘Leftie Lunacy’ poster child for the Conservative Ascendancy Thermotron 2010. A dedicated Leftie named Jason Levin decided to try his hand at covert political action by starting something he liked to call the “Crash the TEA Party.” He failed epically. As of this writing he is in hot water with his employer, a public school system. And who knows, he might crack under interrogation by the Vice Principal, and yield up his connections to George Soros or Andrew Stern. Mr. Levin shares the Leftie Lunacy poster child spot with ex-Congressman Eric Massa - because, well, it’s simply inconceivable Massa has not been extended this honor before (how did I miss that?).

November’s congressional elections will make or break the Conservative Ascendancy. The most important Thermotron factor is now, and will remain,  ‘GOP / TEA Party Alignment.’ News on this front is mixed lately.

First, my own informal ongoing survey of patriots on the street and on the comment boards indicates a deep, deep, deep residual suspicion of the GOP by rank and file conservatives. The best advice I can give to the GOP is this: make damn sure your Commitment to America aligns very closely with the Contract From America. As a matter of fact: feel free to copy and paste – just say thank you for version 1 – post it to your site for further comment – and publish the 2nd revision FAST. Make damn sure it’s not materially different.

I hold to the position the best thing for November success is a GOP organization infused with TEA Party patriot energy. We still have almost seven months for the GOP to earn this marriage. We’ll just have to watch closely for additional signs of conservative principle in the loyal minority opposition.

So-called “Financial Regulatory Reform” has been placed next into the legislative pipeline by BHO and the Progressives. BHO himself is even now scheduling the next perpetual campaign road show in support of this new industry takeover. This is highly technical macro-economic stuff, so it comes down to deciding who you trust more. Especially true since the two sides are starting out with diametrically opposite takes – Dems saying it ends bailouts, GOP saying it’s a perpetual blank check for bailouts. My initial take is this: if the party of government (Dem) wants it, it probably means more misguided government intervention yielding more unintended consequences requiring more misguided government interventions yielding more unintended consequences …. Ad infinitum.

I’m especially suspicious because this bill does not address reforms at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It’s probably because these so-called “quasi-governmental” institutions are already completely under the thumb of the Executive branch, and the whole point is to bring Wall Street under the same thumb. I’m sure we’ll come back to this one as it unfolds. I’m just looking for the GOP leadership to articulate conservative principles and to not allow anything to be passed that can’t be reigned in during a future session. I will specifically be looking for plainly spoken rhetoric explaining the role of the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac in creating the original crisis.

There are some encouraging signs in the news when it comes to GOP / TEA Party Alignment. This Daily Caller report tells us the GOP leadership may be willing to throw down on starving the ObamaCare beast for the remainder of Obama’s term. What they would need is control of the Appropriations Committee (i.e. a congressional majority after the elections).

My new favorite GOP leader is John Boehner (because I learned he has never taken an earmark).  Boehner is already out in front praising the Contract. Good Start. However, one of my favorite ex-GOP Leaders (Dick Armey) left him sitting on the porch on Tax Day, citing the TARP vote in fall 2008.   Come on guys, play nice together. The future of the republic depends on it. Don’t blow it this time.

The probability of eventual impeachment for Barack Hussein Obama now stands at 44 percent.  44 is the uniform number worn by the last great caucasian NFL running back - John Riggins.

April 15: MSM Still Clueless, Party Crashers a No Show

My April 15, 2010 Tax Day rally experience – when compared to my April 15, 2009 Tax Day rally experience – felt like a rite of passage. The kind that makes you think “yeah, this kid’s gonna be alright.”

The 2009 Tax Day rally in DC’s Lafayette Park (documented by video #11 in my ‘T.E.A. Party Festival’ YouTube Playlist) occurred on a bleak, rainy day. The feel of the crowd was something like a small band of committed partisans gathering in the hills, to begin the resistance to an invading army. The only MSM covering the rally was Fox (ahead of the competition as always.)

Fast forward one year. The weather is perfect. And my choices for rally attendance are greatly expanded. I could have chosen from among any of several held throughout my home state of Virginia. There were two distinct large rallies in downtown DC itself – The TEA Party Express III rally held on Freedom Plaza in the morning, and the Freedom Works rally down by the monuments in the evening. I chose to attend the Freedom Plaza rally, took a recuperative nap afterward, and made a last minute decision to skip the Freedom Works rally - because things were going so well for the movement by that point I figured I could prioritize real life ahead of politics for the moment. Hey, I’m not that activated, yet. If I ever am, I will have become either a professional politician or a dedicated Leftie.

The following pics document the two-sided sign I carried at the Freedom Plaza rally.

I had a lot of fun with the “Who is Jason Levin?” sign. My original idea was to make sure it was prominently displayed next to any ‘TEA Party Crasher’ infiltrators. The unexpectedly good discovery of the day: I don’t think any infiltrators even bothered to show. Not a swastika, N-word, or violence provoking sign in sight. Looks like the Party Crashers is an epic FAIL without my help. (Yeah, this kid’s gonna be alright.)

I took to asking MSM operatives if they knew who Jason Levin is. The PBS person did not. I told her to prepare better for her assignment next time. The CNN guy did not. I told him to ask Fox. Somebody with a camera and a microphone, wearing all black, wouldn’t say who he worked for and wouldn’t say if he knew who Levin is. I told him politely. I accept the risk it might show up on a Leftie blog photo-shopped and audio edited. I saw this guy later trolling the crowd looking very disappointed in an angry kind of way. A guy from Politico knew who Levin was, then proceeded to conduct a 5 minute interview with me that I can only describe as hostile – designed to trap me into saying something that could be used to caricature me as an escapee from the Tin Foil Hat Academy. I don’t think I gave him anything, but I’ll watch Politico closely anyway. Plus I’ve got his business card. I saw him later with a prominent place on the credentialed MSM grandstand. MSM still clueless. (see comments for explanation of the strikethrough).

The best media experience I had was with a California Internet Radio outfit. They politely and transparently identified themselves as “Ron Paul” guys. I politely explained how I’ve blogged about Ron Paul being my 80% political friend, and touched on the differences I have with Paul on national defense. We compared prior uniformed military experiences. Their on-site producer was in the Army in same general region of Germany in which I was in the Air Force, at approximately the same time. The thing we had most passionately in common on this day was smoking out Leftie provocateurs. I gave them the live Internet radio interview and we had a good chuckle over the Party Crashers’ epic fail. The "Ron Paul Internet Radio" guys took the pics of my sign.  Citizen journalism and federalism in action.

According to my unscientific survey of the private citizens – approximately 50% already knew who Levin is. The other 50% instantly understood the situation after the briefest explanation. (Yeah, this kid’s gonna be alright.)

After the rally broke up I had three encounters worth noting.

1) The second face I saw that was truly twisted in anger was a Leftie observing things on the fringes across the street. She knew who Levin was, and labeled me “ignorant” for being afraid of allowing him to express his views. I think maybe this was God giving me the one “Through the Looking Glass” experience I came seeking.

2) I had a fairly long discussion with a kid who might have been 20 years old or so. He had already figured out that there was no chance of him seeing a dime of Social Security benefits if things don’t change. (I told him I had figured that out for myself 20 years ago). The problem is: what little political philosophy he seemed to possess sounded basically Anarchist. I gave him a couple of data points that might lead to further growth in his political philosophy. Who can know?

3) I had another fairly long discussion with a patriot from Pennsylvania. We had a nice academic type discussion on the street about reforming how the nation chooses its Vice Presidents. I don’t anticipate this discussion yielding anything actionable. However, I do think I planted a seed that will prove to be actionable. I made the point the only thing that matters from here is winning the House in November. If we can get the Appropriations Committee back in 2011, everything else becomes possible. If we allow the Progressives to hold the Appropriations Committee in 2011, it just might be all over.

November is kind of important now, patriots.  We need to get this one right.

Prelude to April 15

I went camping this weekend. While I was preparing on Friday, Sean Hannity speaking thru the AM radio wavelength made me aware of crashtheteaparty.org. While at the camp site I found time to read an excellent article in the April print edition of the American Spectator by the magazine’s founder, R. Emmett Tyrrell. While driving back, I listened to an audio CD documenting 1967’s Monterey Pop Festival, and the outline for this post clicked in my head.


The light bulb moment (and, believe me, it’s still incandescent for me!) came while I was listening to the closing lines of one of the better Monterey Pop performances – Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.” We’ll circle back to this data point.


Crashtheteaparty.org

If this latest creation of the subversive Left has its way, TEA Party patriots will be indelibly caricatured as “racists, homophobes, and morons” by means of a dishonest “false flag” operation. (“False Flag” operations are an age old military intelligence tactic for posing as the enemy and doing things under the enemy’s banner to embarrass the enemy). Their game plan is to send operatives into the middle of TEA Party rallies with signs that reinforce the negative stereotypes – these signs will have the predictable garbage on them: swastikas, N-word, explicit endorsements of violence, et cetera.

This morning I poked around their site a bit and had an unexpected reaction after a few minutes – pure mirth at their Internet incompetence.

My first reaction: they forgot to add the “gun toting maniacs” talking point to “racists, homophobes, and morons”; so how thorough can these people be anyway? Then I started to notice a high percentage of, perhaps even a majority of, the postings were by patriots mocking the Party Crashers. So far it looked like the Lefties getting pummeled by their usual lack of appreciation for Free Speech and their usual futile attempts to control speech.

Now for the mirth part. It then became apparent the Party Crashers site had actually been administratively hijacked by patriots possessing the requisite skills, at least for a time. See the screen shots in this post’s footnote documenting the claim. Who the hell are the unionized web developers and web administrators who allowed this to happen? LMAO! If you are so inclined, you can continue to watch this running battle for administrative control, as it will surely rage in the coming days. I earned my Computer Science degree in the mid 80s, so I have no intention of participating directly – but the (presumably) younger Computer Science patriots taking this particular fight to the Lefties get a hearty “shout out” from LibertyAtStake.

However, I have no illusions these Lefties have any intention of abandoning their ideological plans, despite this embarrassment. So - on with the post.


Up from Ideology

R. Emmett Tyrrell’s article in the April 2010 issue of American Spectator (“Up From Ideology”) was, for me, one of those reading experiences that just make you go “yeah, that’s it.”

I’m glad I caught it. Historically, my regular rotation for “right-wing extremist reading” has been National Review and American Spectator. (Sorry, Weekly Standard, you’re good too, but a guy has to make decisions about how to apply his finite resources.) However, given the chaos brought to us lately by BHO and the Progressives, and my related decision to get proactively involved somehow, most of that particular time allocation has been re-allocated to the care and feeding of this blog project.

First, Mr. Tyrrell brilliantly establishes the essence of “conservatism” is to be the non-ideological ideology. We conservatives are grounded in the present, subordinate politics to our normal every day pursuits, and seek to use politics as a corrective mechanism only when those normal every day pursuits are threatened by the present political environment. For example (let’s just say) – if your country is presently ruled by a gang of Progressives driving the economy into the ground, causing your personal economy to crash, and you are therefore unable to afford some or all of the activities that used to make you happy – I’m guessing you might consider activating politically.

I also like how Mr. Tyrrell holds up the French Revolutions as the perfect example of ideologues gone wild. If you felt your life’s mission were to fundamentally transform everything during your lifetime, to achieve some vague utopian agenda, you too might actually consider redefining time itself.

Mr. Tyrrell then gets into the meat of the article with a great short biography of Frank Meyer, one of the leading lights of the 1950’s and 1960’s “New Conservatism” movement, and mentor to (among many others) the great William F. Buckley, Jr. First of all, the description of Mr. Meyer’s drive and work habits makes very clear it is entirely possible to be simultaneously conservative and radical, when circumstances make it necessary. We are presently living in such a time. Mr. Meyer’s great contribution to conservative thinking was called “Fusionism” at the time. “Fusionism” provides the intellectual basis for holding together Social Conservatives and Conservative Libertarians. Fusionism explicitly finds its roots in the limited government philosophy of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Fusionism recognizes the ethical values husbanded by social conservatives are the guideposts that keep chaos and anarchy at bay, allowing conservative libertarians to pursue their individual version of happiness in a society ruled by peace. Fusionism essentially tells social conservatives that freedom of religion (meaning no government imposed restrictions) gives them the vehicle to promote ethical values, while allowing conservative libertarians to take what they need and leave the rest (meaning no government endorsement of any of it).


Remember What the Dormouse Said

Now I shall reprint the closing lines to “White Rabbit.” Grace Slick wrote the song making reference to LSD trips and the children’s classic “Alice in Wonderland.” This type of “Through the Looking Glass” type of experience is what we as a nation are now entering politically, beginning in earnest with the April 15 TEA Party rallies.

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
And the white knight is talking backwards
And the red queen's off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
“Feed your head, feed your head”

Dedicated Lefties such as the TEA Party Crashers will be hell bent on engaging in whatever strange subterfuge they can conceive to turn the TEA Party uprising on its head. Lefties with provocative signs, designed specifically to be sensationalized by the MSM, will likely be at your TEA Party rally. Fortunately for me (and you) I had a ‘dormouse’ named William F. Buckley (blog archive : ’Baseline Thoughts – Liberty and Me’ : January 2, 2010), who had ‘dormice’ of his own like Frank Meyer. If I learned anything watching Mr. Buckley on ‘Firing Line’ with an impressionable young mind, it was this: best to eviscerate your ideological opponents one-on-one in full documentary view of the camera lens. So, here’s the plan, Patriots.

Rule #1: Bring your easily affordable personal digital recording devices to the April 15 rally.

Rule #2: Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want your family or friends to see uploaded to YouTube. (Leave that to the Lefties).

If you see a Leftie carrying a sign with any of the dead giveaways (swastika, N-word, etc.), make sure they know you are filming them and you are not one of their MSM sympathizers. If you are the non-confrontational type – thank you, you’ve already done enough to get the gears grinding in their paranoid little pinheads.

If, however, you are more confident in your confrontation management skills –

a) Call for documentary backup in the unlikely event MSM is anywhere nearby,

b) Keep rule #2 in mind,

c) Start by politely asking the Leftie to ditch the sign,

d) Follow your own lights based on the opponent’s reaction.


I think it will be buckets of fun. I’ve got a sign to make, hope you enjoyed the read.

 
Footnote: The Battle of Party Crashers Administrative Control
 

The Consent of the Governed

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. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.


In case you didn’t recognize them, these are the first two sentences in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. Being one of the “governed,” I’ve been thinking lately about the meaning of the words “consent of the governed” as it relates to my “government.”

This line of thought started with me remembering the best applause line I personally witnessed at the December 15 Emergency Senate Rally (chronicled by video number 22 in my YouTube Playlist ‘T.E.A. Party Film Festival’). Laura Ingraham, turning to face the Capitol building, declares “Ladies and gentlemen of the Congress, You No Longer Have Our Consent!” Patriotic hearts pound and patriotic voices rise to the heavens. That’s how I experienced it, anyway.  Still looking for the MSM report.

If your name is anything other than “Rip Van Winkle,” you are surely aware BHO and the Progressives shoved so-called “Health Care Reform” down our throats in opposition to the consent of the governed. It was not the first time, and if they have their way, it won’t be last. Various unpopular bailouts preceded it. Additional progressive outrages like Cap and Trade, Illegal Immigration Amnesty, more taxation, more deficit spending, and the Orwellian named “Fairness Doctrine” are already in the pipeline right behind it.

It has been, and will continue to be, a relentless progressive assault on the American Founding. This assault will be relentlessly visited upon us until We The People reclaim Congress. Therefore, I shall present the evidence as a relentless drum beat of links (below the line) - demonstrating this administration’s habit of governing in opposition to the consent of the governed.

I suspect that in due time we will get to an examination of this other sentence from the same paragraph in the Declaration – “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government …” We might then pause to reflect on why the Founders may have had those words in mind while crafting Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution.


Hey, how does everyone like the new “Daily Barry” feature?  Who knows how to read trend lines? :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------


GM Bailout



12/8/2008

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/behind-the-numbers/2008/12/poll_auto_bailout_wrong_way.html

12/4/2008

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/03/news/economy/automakers_poll/?postversion=2008120312

2/26/2009

http://www.gallup.com/poll/116107/americans-reject-sequel-auto-bailout.aspx

3/30/2009

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/30/auto.ireporters/

4/13/2009

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/04/13/77-billion-more-to-bail-out-bankrupt-gm/

5/31/2009

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/auto_industry/may_2009/just_21_favor_gm_bailout_plan_67_oppose

6/2/2009

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124385428627671889.html

6/6/2009

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/enhanced_gm_bail_out_bad_for_americans/



“Stimulus”



1/29/2009

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/stimulus-package/poll-independents-swing-heavily-against-stimulus-package/



2/4/2009

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/economic_stimulus_package/february_2009/support_for_stimulus_package_falls_to_37



2/6/2009

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/06/stimulus.polls/index.html



2/24/2009

http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2009/02/stimulus-plan-rewarding-bad-behavior.html



6/23/2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/22/AR2009062202000.html



11/17/2009

http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/obama_stimulus_spending_do_poorly_in_montana_poll/14245/



2/18/2010

http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/5051-poll-6-of-americans-believe-stimulus-created-jobs-7-believe-elvis-is-alive



2/25/2010

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/25/poll.stimulus.money/index.html



Gitmo / KSM / War on Terror / National Defense



6/2/2009

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5inI8aDAvoSXM0RSQbIOwxObgfshg



11/17/2009

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/67959-poll-almost-two-thirds-want-miliary-trial-for-ksm



12/31/2009

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/poll-finds-americans-favor-waterboarding-christmas-day-terror-suspect/19299536



1/26/2010

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/print/60446



2/1/2010

http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Poll-opposition-growing-to-domestic-civilian-trials-for-terrorists--83256752.html



2/11/2010

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/02/11/2010-02-11_poll_dont_try_terrorists_in_ny_or_any_court.html



3/10/2010

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/poll-terrorism-nation-less/2010/03/10/id/352283



3/29/2010

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/29/cnn-poll-big-shift-on-closing-of-guantanamo-bay-facility/?fbid=O_aEXbEk5sw



4/8/2010

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/april_2010/55_oppose_limits_on_u_s_nuclear_response_to_attacks



Health Care “Reform”



11/24/2009

http://www.businessweek.com/blogs/money_politics/archives/2009/11/new_health_care.html



1/19/2010

http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/Politics/health-care-reform-abc-news-poll-analysis/story?id=9593912



1/19/2010

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/01/19/2178310.aspx



3/9/2010

http://www.gallup.com/poll/126521/favor-oppose-obama-healthcare-plan.aspx



3/16/2010

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2010/03/16/chamber-polls-find-public-is-opposed-to-healthcare-plan.html



3/28/2010

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/28/AR2010032804094.html



4/8/2010

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/04/08/most-voters-want-to-see-new-health-care-law-changed-or-repealed/



Cap and Trade / Energy



04/30/2009

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/04/30/zogby-poll-only-30-of-americans-support-cap-and-trade/



6/30/2009

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/environment_energy/42_say_climate_change_bill_will_hurt_the_economy



11/14/2009

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6916510.ece



1/25/2010

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/01/25/pew-poll-global-warming-dead-last-down-from-last-year/



3/11/2010

http://www.gallup.com/poll/126560/americans-global-warming-concerns-continue-drop.aspx



4/6/2010

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63536B20100406



“Comprehensive” Immigration “Reform”



4/14/2009

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/polltracker/2009/04/immigration-overhaul-ranks-low.html



4/16/2009

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2009/04/16/poll-immigration-amnesty-is-unpopular-outside-the-beltway-pols-remain-clueless.html



10/19/2009

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=18571



11/23/2009

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1421/where-the-public-stands-on-immigration-reform



2/3/2010

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/immigration-232367-reform-pass.html



2/25/2010

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2459112/posts

It's Official: Huffington Post an Anti Free Speech Outlet

LibertyAtStake has been banned from commenting on Huffington Post!  LibertyAtStake demands Huffington Post provide an explanation sent to my email address (libertyatstake@gmail.com) or as a comment to this post.

I was about to provide an edited version of HuffPo's biased headline:  "US Court Rules AGAINST FCC On Net Neutrality In Big Win For Comcast."

My counter-headline:  "US Court Rules AGAINST Statist Censorship On Net Neutrality In Big Win For Property Ownership Rights."

I only used HuffPo as a pinata for "tweak a liberal" amusement, anyway.

Thoughts on Reaping and Sowing

I know I suggested to my small cult of dedicated followers my next post might be on the topic of possible constitutional amendments. Sorry, folks, I overpromised. Such a serious undertaking requires appropriate due diligence, and will take a little more time. So, what I have to offer here is the customary, occasional, somewhat bi-weekly, Conservative Ascendancy Thermotron 2010 update.

The theme behind this update is Biblical (it only seemed appropriate following Easter Sunday).


2 Corinthians 9:6 But as to this, he that sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he that sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Let each one do just as he has resolved in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.


A little clarification for you Lefties out there: the giving part refers to your own stuff, not other people’s stuff.


The Most Partisan and Ideological Administration in History has been busy reaping and sowing since our last update. These Incompetents are mostly beginning the reaping in foreign affairs; mostly still sowing in domestic affairs.


Foreign Affairs


In foreign affairs, the current administration is reaping what it sowed in 2009 with its global Apology Tour. Barack Hussein Obama is now the first President ever to have his phone calls screened by an Israeli Prime Minister. And for good reason - Mr. Netanyahu never knows when a minor administrative gaffe in his government will require him fly to DC, just to be left sitting all alone in a White House anteroom. After this brilliant diplomatic maneuver (it’s right there on page 5 of the State Department Diplomats Training Manual – ‘always treat your allies like s**t'), Mr. Obama reportedly presented Mr. Netanyahu with 13 unreasonable demands and sent him packing. Then, a few days later, Mr. Obama stood shoulder to shoulder with French President Nicholas Sarkozy to demand Israel do the one thing every sentient being on the planet knows they will never do – stop building settlements in Jerusalem. Personally, I wouldn’t blame Mr. Netanyahu for answering every call from the White House with “wrong number’” - in a Chinese accent - after this rapid fire series of insults.

Mr. Obama’s charm has been at work north and east of Israel as well. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad still has not accepted Mr. Obama’s offer for a nice little chat to save the world from god knows what. Ahmadinejad did, however, accept an invitation to travel to Kabul to discuss god knows what with the President of Afghanistan, Harmad Karzai. Mr. Karzai also recently played host to Mr. Obama, when the US President paid an unannounced visit to Kabul, to work more of the Obama charm while presenting another long list of demands he has no leverage or influence to affect. Hey, you do the math - hardly a surprise that Karzai is now hedging his bets with the Taliban. The Afghanistan trip is the Thermotron ‘Events’ poster child – because making a huge splash with an ugly belly flop has been the one true hallmark of this White House.

Of course, the core problem is this: Mr. Obama is pursuing the wrong goal in both Afghanistan and Iran. Our goal in Afghanistan is to simply clear the country of Taliban and related terrorists, who might attack us in the global War on Terror. Sure, Harmad Karzai is a corrupt guy. He runs Kabul, for crying out loud, not some wholesomely ethical US City (like, say, Chicago). But he’s the only friend we’ve got in Afghanistan. We should be treating him like a friend while we need his help, and leaving him in a strong position to prevent a new rise of the Taliban and related terrorists after we leave. Period. The goal in Iran is to prevent the current regime from acquiring nuclear weapons. Mr. Obama had a chance to change the entire effin’ regime - to one that might not have wanted these weapons, by encouraging and aiding the Green Movement protest movement when it arose during last year’s phony Iranian elections. Opportunity apparently lost. Instead, Obama continues to pursue the tired old failed path of multi-lateral negotiations. And while bickering with our only real friend in the region – Israel! Now acting bi-laterally with our only regional friend seems impossible. Smooth diplomacy, Mr. Obama.

I don’t think anyone needs to be reminded Iran (a) is close to possessing nuclear weapons, (b) borders Afghanistan where we have troops, (c) borders Iraq where we have troops, (c) funds or has funded terrorist operations in Iraq, (d) funds or has funded terrorist operations in Afghanistan, (d) funds a combination political party / terrorist organizations in Palestine, and (d) is on record with the policy of wiping Israel off the map. Soon, you may see LibertyAtStake improbably recommending an acceleration of US troop withdrawal timelines in both Iraq and Afghanistan. With a Commander-In-Chief this incompetent, holding a well-earned diplomatic hand this weak as the fruit of his incompetence – forward troop deployment starts to look like all risk and no reward.

What’s to happen in the Middle East, and the global War on terror, as the US pulls back is anybody’s guess. The last person I’d ask is BHO. You might have to endure a 17 minute non-answer for your trouble.


Domestic Affairs


Domestically, BHO and the Progressives are shrewdly following up their pyrrhic legislative victory (ObamaCare), by having BHO go out and give speeches designed to convince a majority of Americans they actually need what they already know they don’t want. BHO has a lot of splainin’ to do to this dubious audience - this Rasmussen poll shows a clear majority supporting outright repeal of this monstrous industry takeover. We will no doubt be talking about repealing this bill right up to election. This little Daily Caller comment board dust up in which I participated is likely representative of the tone of the debate for the next seven months or so – brought to you by BHO and the Progressives.

And BHO is supposedly the “good cop” in the BHO and the Progressives act. Designated ‘bad cop’ Henry Waxman (D – Goblin Nation) has summoned several CEOs to a Congressional Show Trial. Why? Their companies had the audacity to conform with federal regulations, and restate their public accounting to show the new costs they need to bear due to the passage of ObamaCare. This is a really scary tyrannical stuff by BHO and the Progressives. They are essentially telling every business in America “follow the regulations except when we don’t want you to.” Fortunately, we still (apparently against the wishes of BHO and the Progressives) live under the rule of the Constitution, and they are again sowing the seeds of electoral defeat here. First, they demonize and alienate the health insurance industry. Now, they demonize and alienate every business that is a customer of the health insurance industry – basically, that is, every business in the country. The honorable Mr. Waxman – allegedly a professional politician interested in his party’s reelection – earns one half of the Lefty Lunacy poster child spot for perpetrating this insanity.

BHO and the Progressives never seem to run out of people to demonize and alienate. They, of course, predictably spent the last couple of weeks attempting to smear conservatives in general (and TEA Party patriots in particular) as dangerous lunatics. Once again, the dishonest tactic backfired spectacularly - when a donor to the Democrat National Committee (DNC) named Norman Leboon surfaced.  Look deep into the insane eyes of Mr. Leboon – and begin to understand the passions driving BHO’s so-called political “base” – the Leftists and Progressives. For his timely entry onto the national scene, Mr. Leboon earns the other half of the Lefty Lunacy poster child spot.

On Friday April 2, BHO told a crowd in Charlotte, NC that the addition of several thousand temporary government jobs signals the economy is “turning the corner.” Then he sent his alleged economic team out to the Sunday talk shows to tell us 10% unemployment is here to stay for awhile nevertheless. NO S**T, SHERLOCK! We’ll be lucky if 10% proves to be the ceiling as long as you clowns continue with your anti-growth policies. BHO and the Progressives continue to sow the seeds of a crappy economy that will be reaped in electoral defeat.

The GOP / TEA Party Alignment measure is a push. Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Michael Steele had a bad week, to say the least. He was buffeted by accounting scandals, reportedly told the illegal immigration lobby he could get GOP support for their cause, and most unforgivingly (in my view) played the race card in his own defense. Memo to Mr. Steele: we don’t play dat on the Right.

My own view is the RNC is essentially an obsolete organization, anyway. First, the next election cycle (probably the next two) will be influenced far more by passion than by money. And I predict the conservative money will be routed more directly to conservative candidates – GOP or otherwise – by individual principled conservative donors. Look for a plethora of Political Action Committees (PACs) to spring up with ‘Liberty’ somewhere in the name.

RNC is the negative half of the push. The positive half of the push is one Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is responsible for writing something called the “Commitment to America,” modeled on 1994’s “Contract With America” – but with a twist. Mr. McCarthy was out on the Sunday talk shows this weekend emphasizing a bottom-up approach to developing the “Commitment.” Very Shrewd. Look for the “Commitment” to become the story of 2010, just as the “Contract” was the story of 1994.

The probability of eventually impeaching Barack Hussein Obama now stands at 40% - good enough odds for a desperate man to place a life-changing bet in Las Vegas.


footnote

I am now listening to the Grandy and Andy Morning show, and being informed BHO has essentially taken a real step toward unilaterally disarming the US nuclear deterrent. Two immediate thoughts: (1) too much to wrap by brain around right now, and (2) no good can come from this.