WHERE WAS THE DEBATE

The year 2010 was the year of “Pass the Legislation”. The Congress and Senate were guided around like sheep. Where was the debate, the questions: WHAT, WHY, WHERE, WHEN, HOW and WHO? No time? The leaders didn’t know what they were voting for. “We’ll worry about it later.” My advice this holiday season is that all elected officials watch, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Maybe Jimmy Stewart will give them some inspiration. In their Christmas stocking, I would hope that Santa leaves them some wisdom, sense of duty and a copy of the Constitution.

COMING TO AMERICA?

Recent events in England and Greece should be of concern to all Americans. It’s a signal of what can happen when government gets too big and people become dependent on entitlements. There comes a time when everyone must face reality. The question becomes where does all that money come from? Someone has to pay. It’s definitely not governments’ money; it’s taxpayer money paying for those entitlements. Something has to give. Government has to cut costs, unions have to stop demanding and instigating, and everyone has to make sacrifices. There is no free ride. When you’re in a hole you dig yourself out. It is a time that will determine what type of country you will live in.

There are many lessons coming out of Europe. Unfortunately our government believes this is the path to follow, I call it the path to Socialism. It’s big government’s wish to redistribute wealth so everyone can be equal. We saw what happened when Freddie and Fannie provided everyone with the opportunity to own a home. The housing market collapsed, leading to high unemployment and huge deficits. This was the initiative that created the problems we are in today. This was government’s approach to change and equality. We were not to be treated as individuals but as collectives.

We must learn from what’s happening in Europe and get back on track. Government must cut back, Union member must regain control of their unions, creativity and ingenuity must be promoted. Dependence on entitlements leads to control of the individual. You lose your identify and become a pawn of the state. If we don’t wake up and pay attention, it may be too late. Europe is not a model to follow, we must return to basic free market principles and individualism. The best model and hope for freedom is and will always be the Constitution of the United States of America.

DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR

During the past election candidates stated that they recognized the fact that Washington wasn’t listening. Have you heard the recent clamor over airport security, it’s loud and clear. Unfortunately, Washington has a problem hearing it. They do what they want, and ignore alternatives. Are they listening? Does it make sense to grope grandma or a 3 year old? They’ve lost the ability to reason and use common sense. Washington has become so arrogant they now feel they know what’s best for everyone. The problem is, what’s good for America doesn’t seem to be good for the elite in Washington. They’ve begun to act like dictators. Could you please tell me why Washington’s elite are given a pass at airports? They’re no better than anybody else. Why is Washington getting salary increases when social security is frozen? Why is Congress exempt from Obama Care? Why is it that more and more large companies are getting waivers from the new health care law? Shouldn’t everyone be treated the same. Why is it that we keep spending when we’re broke? Tax paying America is paying for this fiscal mess through higher prices and taxes. We’ve mortgaged our future to China, and Washington thinks nothing of it.

What a mess. Washington listens to Unions, lobbyists, billionaires who don’t know what to do with their money and far left ideologues. The average American is being shut out. This is not the America I grew up in or believe in. Main stream America will only take so much. Washington has exceeded its boundaries by ignoring the voices of the people. The battle is to restore America not destroy it. Maybe it’s time for Washington to start paying attention to the people. Maybe it’s time for Washington to feel the pain. Maybe it’s time to listen.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

Some years ago they had a saying: “sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never harm you”. “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.” has changed the depth and meaning of that old saying. If you use the wrong word you can be chastised as offensive, insensitive, racist, sexist, and homophobic and more Recently the word extremist was used on the “View” in reference to 9/11 and the building of a mosque, Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar walked off the set over the word extremist. The expression of this idea. word, action or opinion created hysteria. Instead of a civil debate we had adults behave like children.

Twenty or thirty years ago comedians made a living off of ethnic jokes; people laughed and enjoyed the humor. The Archie Bunker/All In The Family Show entertained millions in the 1970”s with ethnic humor. Some complained but it had little affect on its popularity... Today’s comedy depends on vulgarity and sexism. It’s entertainment that exhibits a lack of discipline and character. Its popularity can be found in poor ratings. Ethnic jokes lost out to political correctness and vulgarity. In the process we’ve lost the art of humor and laughing at ourselves. Political correctness has gone so far as to attempt to ban the Nativity Scene at public places at Christmas time, greeting people with Merry Christmas was to be replaced by Happy Holidays, Santa’s Ho Ho was misconstrued as something evil, and the White House no longer sends Christmas Cards because they believe it can be offensive. The White House banned the word terrorism
and replaced it with “Manmade Disaster”. Political correctness has become a way to confront someone who disagrees with your opinion in a way to create fears to dismantle your beliefs and traditions. That’s not political correctness, that’s political incorrectness. Someone termed it social demolition.

If someone can turn the American Flag upside down, and degrade the traditions and customs of America without retribution, than I say it’s time to put an end to political correctness. Yes, every human being deserves respect but not at the cost of every word or action being censored. We cannot be intimidated by the agenda and demands of those presented under the guise of “Political Correctness”. It’s time to replace Political Correctness with plain old COMMON SENSE.

GONE INSANE

On October 30th Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert will be holding a “Restore Sanity Rally” in Washington DC. I hope they can accomplish something because, I have some question and problems with the way Washington is doing business. Maybe they can answer the question, why we continue to spend when we’re broke? Why elected officials take an oath to defend the Constitution than tell us it’s irrelevant? Why Legislators pass laws without reading them and than tell us we’ll find out what’s in it later? DOJ sues the state of Arizona, but fails to question the civil right violations of China, Venezuela, Iran and most UN nations? Why did we stop drilling for oil, but support foreign drilling? Why rank and file union members allow union leaders to blindly spend their dues? Why government needs to nationalize banks and industry? How much tax do people have to pay before it’s enough for government? Why do we continue to send jobs overseas when we have high unemployment? What happened to the free market? Why is social security broke, but we provide aid to illegals for education and health care? Why isn’t Washington protecting our borders when Mexico and Guatemala have erected fences for their border? Why is Washington letting the greatest nation on earth become second rate?

I doubt that two comedians will change anything, but their premise is right. Washington and our elected officials have gone insane and we need to restore sanity to government.

NOVEMBER IS COMING

The elections are fast approaching and the mud and dirt has begun to fly. People are angry and are looking for people to solve problems. They’re tired of the entrenched politicians and their promises. They’re tired of the old rhetoric and phony endorsements. They’re tired of the pundits and their elitist attitudes and predictions. They want action with results. They want leaders and problem solvers to fix the economy, immigration, education, create jobs, control taxes, eliminate debt, provide quality, affordable health care, create and follow fiscally sound budgets, enforce laws, understand they work for the people not a party or special interest group(s),,and above all, believe in the principles that made this country great. .The election should be about intelligent ideas and issues. It’s not about name calling, generalities or gutter politics. It’s too easy to call someone a racist, Nazi or hater, but difficult to develop solutions to problems and to discuss the issues in a clear and concise manner. The most precious freedom you have is the vote. Don’t be a complainer, vote on November 2nd for your convictions.

Government Is The Problem

Former president Ronald Reagan said,”They spend like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors because they spend their own money.” I guess it would be safe to say that our representatives in Washington are spending our money like drunken sailors. They spend and spend more. They don’t know when to stop. When the money trees are bare they print more. Why not, it’s not theirs, it belongs to the taxpayer. If it was theirs it would be a different story. It’s been reported that consumers are paying down their debt. Why isn’t Washington paying down the debt? The present deficit is around 13 trillion dollars and growing. The national debt is growing by about $4 billion a day with an estimated cost to each citizen of over $43 thousand dollars. Washington talks of increasing taxes and passing more costly legislation. People can t afford more taxes. We’re broke. They don’t get it. Presently a working person has to work 231 days out of the year to meet all costs imposed by government, that’s 8 days more than 2009.

Some will tell you we’re in a recession; some say it’s a depression while the administration say’s we’re in recovery. If you’re one of the 9.5% unemployed you tell me where we’re at. What troubles me, is that public sector jobs have been increasing while private sector jobs are decreasing. We don’t need more bureaucrats; we need real jobs, jobs that produce value. Government jobs take money from the private sector that should go to buy goods and services that would put people back to work. Hiring more bureaucrats isn’t the answer. Government needs to provide the private sector with the economic freedom to make business decisions. Business leaders need that freedom to create and produce goods and services that consumers need and want. The present advice coming out of Washington is from academics, lobbyists, activists, union leaders and community organizers; people with little or no business experience. We have bureaucrats telling business what and how to do it. The Congress has been incapable of controlling the bureaucrats. That is a problem. These people have no real business experience that would qualify them to solve business problems. We need less government, less regulations, and the free market to do its job.

As President Reagan said,” Government is not the solution to the problem, it is the problem.”