Inciting Violence
As a kid, I accompanied my parents to church services every Wednesday night and twice on Sunday. Here are some things I learned:
"The fight is on, oh Christian Soldiers and face to face in stern array..."
"Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war..."
"Over the top for Jesus, bravely we shall go. Over the top for Jesus, thwarting every foe,
Never delaying when we hear the bugle blow, we'll fight for right with all of our might...."
"Fight the good fight..."
"Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross..."
Very militaristic language, but only an idiot would say those old gospel hymns were intended to incite violence.
Today some liberal Dems are accusing Sarah Palin and other conservatives of inciting violence when then speak of "targeting" political opponents, but these Dems are not idiots. They, however, ARE inciting violence.
They know the conservative movement is a bottom-up phenomena. They know that it is the greatest possible threat to their political power. And they know the best way to defeat this movement is to discredit it in the eyes of those millions of American voters who are not really paying attention. Discredit the Conservatives... win the votes of the inattentive Liberals and Independents.
What would instantly discredit the Conservatives more quickly than a true act of violence?
And what will incite that act of violence? When persons in power flaunt their power and refuse to even acknowledge honest, non-violent citizens who disagree. By jamming legislation "down the throats" of good, hard-working people who disagree, you make them really angry. Then, when you mock them, taunt them, and dare them to protest, their anger becomes hatred. Now, all you have to do is accuse them of being what they are not: radicals, terrorists, a violent, undisciplined mob... you are pushing too hard. If you can just get a few to reach the breaking point and explode in an act of violence, the discrediting can become complete.
The Tea Party followers, the Conservative "stars" like Sarah Palin, are not taking the bait. We can only hope that no one else does.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Sucker Punch
You have to be 60 years old to remember 1959. You have to be older than 70 to have been aware of what was happening politically in 1959.
So, there are fewer and fewer of us who remember political events of that year. I happened to have been heavily involved in a career move in that year, so my memories may involve a bit of a peripheral view. I clearly remember the event... perhaps not every detail.
In Cuba, a guy named Fulgencio Batista (a former President of Cuba) had seized power in a bloodless coup and installed himself as dictator of that island nation. Another guy, son of wealthy sugar plantation owners from Spain, a guy named Fidel Castro, was planning to run for office in upcoming elections. When Batista took power, he cancelled the elections.
Castro was so infuriated, he gathered a group of supporters and led an attack on a government military installation. The attack failed, Castro was captured, convicted and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Batista had failed to learn what many dictators before him knew... when you have political opposition inclined to violence, you don't forgive them and turn them loose to commit future violence. Batista did just that. In an amnesty deal of some sort, he released Fidel.
Castro fled to Mexico where he met and formed a tight bond with Che Guevara, a big time Communist rabble-rouser. Together they returned to Cuba and conducted a guerrilla operation against Batista's government. Batista was a dictator who had seized power illegally. Castro cast himself as the savior of the Cuban people. Hope and change! I, and many Americans, cheered him on.
Eventually Batista fled in exile and Castro took power. He insisted he was not a Communist, but did seize American-owned businesses, assumed more and more power for himself and did, eventually declare Cuba to be a Socialist State. President Eisenhower smelled the rat Castro was and broke diplomatic relations with his government.
Finally, Fidel Castro 'fessed up and admitted he was a committed Marxist. Having urged support for Fidel Castro, the only thing I could think was that we had been sucker-punched! A lot of people were upset about that, and any number of attempts were made to remove Castro from power - none successfully. Castro once said that if avoiding assassination were an Olympic sport, he would be a gold medalist.
Frankly, I doubt all the stories of assassination attempts. The leftists always use the victim card to divert attention from their own misdeeds.
Fast forward today to a young American president whose parents and grandparents were Communists; who was mentored by Frank Marshall Davis, a notorious Communist; who wrote of seeking out Marxist professors and students in college; who has strong friendships with admitted Communists; is gobbling more and more power for himself; is assuming more and more control over American enterprise and the American people; is repeatedly appeasing America's enemies and alienating her allies; who seems ignorant of the most basic American principals. It all seems so familiar, I am forced to remember Cuba of seven decades ago.
We know that Barack Obama is a Socialist. Even Rev. Al Sharpton says the American people "voted overwhelmingly for Socialism when they elected Barack Obama."
I am forced to ask... are we about to be sucker punched once again?
You have to be 60 years old to remember 1959. You have to be older than 70 to have been aware of what was happening politically in 1959.
So, there are fewer and fewer of us who remember political events of that year. I happened to have been heavily involved in a career move in that year, so my memories may involve a bit of a peripheral view. I clearly remember the event... perhaps not every detail.
In Cuba, a guy named Fulgencio Batista (a former President of Cuba) had seized power in a bloodless coup and installed himself as dictator of that island nation. Another guy, son of wealthy sugar plantation owners from Spain, a guy named Fidel Castro, was planning to run for office in upcoming elections. When Batista took power, he cancelled the elections.
Castro was so infuriated, he gathered a group of supporters and led an attack on a government military installation. The attack failed, Castro was captured, convicted and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Batista had failed to learn what many dictators before him knew... when you have political opposition inclined to violence, you don't forgive them and turn them loose to commit future violence. Batista did just that. In an amnesty deal of some sort, he released Fidel.
Castro fled to Mexico where he met and formed a tight bond with Che Guevara, a big time Communist rabble-rouser. Together they returned to Cuba and conducted a guerrilla operation against Batista's government. Batista was a dictator who had seized power illegally. Castro cast himself as the savior of the Cuban people. Hope and change! I, and many Americans, cheered him on.
Eventually Batista fled in exile and Castro took power. He insisted he was not a Communist, but did seize American-owned businesses, assumed more and more power for himself and did, eventually declare Cuba to be a Socialist State. President Eisenhower smelled the rat Castro was and broke diplomatic relations with his government.
Finally, Fidel Castro 'fessed up and admitted he was a committed Marxist. Having urged support for Fidel Castro, the only thing I could think was that we had been sucker-punched! A lot of people were upset about that, and any number of attempts were made to remove Castro from power - none successfully. Castro once said that if avoiding assassination were an Olympic sport, he would be a gold medalist.
Frankly, I doubt all the stories of assassination attempts. The leftists always use the victim card to divert attention from their own misdeeds.
Fast forward today to a young American president whose parents and grandparents were Communists; who was mentored by Frank Marshall Davis, a notorious Communist; who wrote of seeking out Marxist professors and students in college; who has strong friendships with admitted Communists; is gobbling more and more power for himself; is assuming more and more control over American enterprise and the American people; is repeatedly appeasing America's enemies and alienating her allies; who seems ignorant of the most basic American principals. It all seems so familiar, I am forced to remember Cuba of seven decades ago.
We know that Barack Obama is a Socialist. Even Rev. Al Sharpton says the American people "voted overwhelmingly for Socialism when they elected Barack Obama."
I am forced to ask... are we about to be sucker punched once again?
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Leaderless, but not Rudderless
As Democrats prepare to launch a full frontal assault on the Tea Party movement, it seems appropriate to go on the record with a few thoughts.
Public opinion of the Tea Party movement is mixed, but growing steadily more favorable. Media depiction is, by and large, intensely derogatory, degrading and delirious. Those we oppose have called us every name in the book, even making up a few new ones especially in our honor.
A recent poll of Tea Partiers gives some insight. The heart of the movement is our belief in the United States Constitution, and the grand, unique experiment in liberty which it facilitated. The primary concerns of our members lie in the arenas of finance and defense. I always think of the goal as being "to put government back in its box." In my head, government is like a giant, living ooze that was once a child's toy, like Silly Putty, but has mutated into a suffocating, ever-expanding force for evil. I want to shrink it by about 80%, put it back in its box. Note that I do not specify a level of government - they are all much too bloated and oppressive. The poll painted us as a leaderless group, implying that we might be drifting without purpose or course. We are leaderless, in the traditional sense of the word, but we are certainly not without leaders.
Who are the Tea Partiers? We are the best that America has to offer, in many ways.
We are strong, self-reliant people who work hard, spend responsibly and help those less fortunate than ourselves because it feels good and is the right, moral thing to do.
We are all leaders - or nearly all of us. Each of us is involved in this fight because we believe it is our solemn duty as citizens, as "We The People," to speak out, loudly, when the supreme law of our land is being used to line the bottom of the birdcage.
We are passionate about our country and its rare and precious freedoms, we believe in our fellow Americans. We believe that, left to their own devices, with no safety net, most men would rise to the challenge and make decent lives for themselves. We wish there had never been such things as Income Taxes, Social Security and Medicare. We certainly don't want government healthcare! We believe in the goodness of Americans, and the ability of private churches, charities and other organizations to take care of the less fortunate infinitely more efficiently than government.
Though the majority of our members are Christian, and virtually all strongly support Christian values and morals, those issues are not leading our fight. This seems to have caused some confusion. It shouldn't - it's really quite simple and logical. If we do not rein in the growth of government and government spending, there will be no country left. The ooze will suffocate all who produce. What good will it do to battle abortion if we are leaving the child we save with a future of indentured servitude to pay for our generation's fiscal irresponsibility? We believe in the power of a free America, and we know the contagious nature of success. We know that by bringing our nation closer to her founding principles, we will be improving her morality as a natural consequence.
This is the epic battle of our lifetimes. We aren't playing games, we won't "get bored" and go home. Losing is simply not an option. It is cold, hard, statistical fact that the growth of government in the last two years - even the last ten years - has been exponential in both size and spending. It is impossible - not merely difficult or uncomfortable - impossible to continue this behavior indefinitely. What do you think will ultimately happen to the debt our government is incurring? Have you thought about it? This government continues to borrow ever more every year, and they never pay a penny of the principle. The debt never shrinks. Borrow more, pay this year's interest...hmm, the interest is a lot higher this year than it was last...
We do not see this as a partisan problem - both parties have been guilty of budgetary abuse. We are sick and tired of politicians who buy votes with our money. We have a fair understanding of the Constitution, at least enough to know that the founders never intended any branch or level of government to serve as a cradle-to-grave nanny, standing ready to kiss our boo-boos when we fall down.
We believe in personal responsibility and self-determination. We ask only the freedom to make our own choices and follow our chosen course with as little bureaucratic involvement as possible, and we pledge to accept whatever consequences our choices bring, for better or worse. We do not believe that we, through the simple fact of our existence, are entitled to any worldly goods purchased by the production of others. We believe ourselves adequate to such tasks as deciding, based on our personal health and circumstances, whether to purchase health insurance or take a chance and pay our doctors out of pocket, as needed. We resent deeply any implication that we aren't smart enough to understand the wisdom of the political class, or appreciate their grand designs. We understand, quite clearly, and we reject, quite completely.
We reject the government's vision of this country as composed of feckless incompetents incapable of self-sustenance.
Ours is the ultimate "big tent party." Our platform is the Constitution, our only requirement is love of liberty.
We do not have leaders because we do not need to be led. We are each on our own personal crusade to save the nation we love. We all have different pet causes and passions - this tends to happen among strong, fiercely independent thinkers - but we are all working toward the grand goal of restoring America to her former glory as the land where all things are possible because free men are encouraged to grow wealth through hard work and ingenuity.
This video illustrates the point beautifully. We are "We The People."
Public opinion of the Tea Party movement is mixed, but growing steadily more favorable. Media depiction is, by and large, intensely derogatory, degrading and delirious. Those we oppose have called us every name in the book, even making up a few new ones especially in our honor.
A recent poll of Tea Partiers gives some insight. The heart of the movement is our belief in the United States Constitution, and the grand, unique experiment in liberty which it facilitated. The primary concerns of our members lie in the arenas of finance and defense. I always think of the goal as being "to put government back in its box." In my head, government is like a giant, living ooze that was once a child's toy, like Silly Putty, but has mutated into a suffocating, ever-expanding force for evil. I want to shrink it by about 80%, put it back in its box. Note that I do not specify a level of government - they are all much too bloated and oppressive. The poll painted us as a leaderless group, implying that we might be drifting without purpose or course. We are leaderless, in the traditional sense of the word, but we are certainly not without leaders.
Who are the Tea Partiers? We are the best that America has to offer, in many ways.
We are strong, self-reliant people who work hard, spend responsibly and help those less fortunate than ourselves because it feels good and is the right, moral thing to do.
We are all leaders - or nearly all of us. Each of us is involved in this fight because we believe it is our solemn duty as citizens, as "We The People," to speak out, loudly, when the supreme law of our land is being used to line the bottom of the birdcage.
We are passionate about our country and its rare and precious freedoms, we believe in our fellow Americans. We believe that, left to their own devices, with no safety net, most men would rise to the challenge and make decent lives for themselves. We wish there had never been such things as Income Taxes, Social Security and Medicare. We certainly don't want government healthcare! We believe in the goodness of Americans, and the ability of private churches, charities and other organizations to take care of the less fortunate infinitely more efficiently than government.
Though the majority of our members are Christian, and virtually all strongly support Christian values and morals, those issues are not leading our fight. This seems to have caused some confusion. It shouldn't - it's really quite simple and logical. If we do not rein in the growth of government and government spending, there will be no country left. The ooze will suffocate all who produce. What good will it do to battle abortion if we are leaving the child we save with a future of indentured servitude to pay for our generation's fiscal irresponsibility? We believe in the power of a free America, and we know the contagious nature of success. We know that by bringing our nation closer to her founding principles, we will be improving her morality as a natural consequence.
This is the epic battle of our lifetimes. We aren't playing games, we won't "get bored" and go home. Losing is simply not an option. It is cold, hard, statistical fact that the growth of government in the last two years - even the last ten years - has been exponential in both size and spending. It is impossible - not merely difficult or uncomfortable - impossible to continue this behavior indefinitely. What do you think will ultimately happen to the debt our government is incurring? Have you thought about it? This government continues to borrow ever more every year, and they never pay a penny of the principle. The debt never shrinks. Borrow more, pay this year's interest...hmm, the interest is a lot higher this year than it was last...
We do not see this as a partisan problem - both parties have been guilty of budgetary abuse. We are sick and tired of politicians who buy votes with our money. We have a fair understanding of the Constitution, at least enough to know that the founders never intended any branch or level of government to serve as a cradle-to-grave nanny, standing ready to kiss our boo-boos when we fall down.
We believe in personal responsibility and self-determination. We ask only the freedom to make our own choices and follow our chosen course with as little bureaucratic involvement as possible, and we pledge to accept whatever consequences our choices bring, for better or worse. We do not believe that we, through the simple fact of our existence, are entitled to any worldly goods purchased by the production of others. We believe ourselves adequate to such tasks as deciding, based on our personal health and circumstances, whether to purchase health insurance or take a chance and pay our doctors out of pocket, as needed. We resent deeply any implication that we aren't smart enough to understand the wisdom of the political class, or appreciate their grand designs. We understand, quite clearly, and we reject, quite completely.
We reject the government's vision of this country as composed of feckless incompetents incapable of self-sustenance.
Ours is the ultimate "big tent party." Our platform is the Constitution, our only requirement is love of liberty.
We do not have leaders because we do not need to be led. We are each on our own personal crusade to save the nation we love. We all have different pet causes and passions - this tends to happen among strong, fiercely independent thinkers - but we are all working toward the grand goal of restoring America to her former glory as the land where all things are possible because free men are encouraged to grow wealth through hard work and ingenuity.
This video illustrates the point beautifully. We are "We The People."
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Why's He Doing It?
I keep getting emails from patriotic conservative groups warning that we must kill the Health Care bill now. What's the rush? Didn't Mitch McConnell just warn that, if Obamacare passes, every Republican candidate will campaign on repealing the monster?
And isn't almost everyone saying the Democrats are committing political suicide by pushing for passage? Doesn't that foretell a Republican landslide in November? Will that not assure a big push in Congress to reverse the legislation before it even becomes effective? The "R"s may even regain control of both sides of Congress - may even gain enough seats to override a Obama veto.
Do Reid, Pelosi and friends have a death wish? Is Obama wacky?
Am I the only one old enough to remember Jimmy Carter? Has everyone forgotten his soft, Southern drawl reminding us that we have no national energy policy, and proclaiming "That's ridiculous!" So, he gave us The Department Of Energy. We all said, "So what? We'll get rid of Jimmy and then we'll get rid of The D.O.E."
And, how about the Department of Education? I recall many voices promising to dump that department, also!
Well, we got rid of Jimmy. We've had eight years of Reagan; four of Bush 41 and eight of Bush 43. And we have had a host of Republican Congresses.
And.... we still have D.O.E.! We still have the Department of Education! We still have E.P.A.! We still have the I.R.S.! We still have a lot of Progressive crap we swore we'd get rid of.
The fact of the matter is, an ounce of prevention outweighs many tons of cure. The Progressives know well how this all works.
In case you are still not quite clear, Mark Steyn is much more lucid in his IBD explanation of Why's He Doing It? Check him out. Kill the bill now!
I keep getting emails from patriotic conservative groups warning that we must kill the Health Care bill now. What's the rush? Didn't Mitch McConnell just warn that, if Obamacare passes, every Republican candidate will campaign on repealing the monster?
And isn't almost everyone saying the Democrats are committing political suicide by pushing for passage? Doesn't that foretell a Republican landslide in November? Will that not assure a big push in Congress to reverse the legislation before it even becomes effective? The "R"s may even regain control of both sides of Congress - may even gain enough seats to override a Obama veto.
Do Reid, Pelosi and friends have a death wish? Is Obama wacky?
Am I the only one old enough to remember Jimmy Carter? Has everyone forgotten his soft, Southern drawl reminding us that we have no national energy policy, and proclaiming "That's ridiculous!" So, he gave us The Department Of Energy. We all said, "So what? We'll get rid of Jimmy and then we'll get rid of The D.O.E."
And, how about the Department of Education? I recall many voices promising to dump that department, also!
Well, we got rid of Jimmy. We've had eight years of Reagan; four of Bush 41 and eight of Bush 43. And we have had a host of Republican Congresses.
And.... we still have D.O.E.! We still have the Department of Education! We still have E.P.A.! We still have the I.R.S.! We still have a lot of Progressive crap we swore we'd get rid of.
The fact of the matter is, an ounce of prevention outweighs many tons of cure. The Progressives know well how this all works.
In case you are still not quite clear, Mark Steyn is much more lucid in his IBD explanation of Why's He Doing It? Check him out. Kill the bill now!
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