Tag: Libertarian Party

The Gold Standard – Another view…

….and it’s an interesting one, at that.

From Citizen Economists:

Therein lies the fundamental problem of gold as a backing for fiat money, or as a direct global currency.

There simply is not enough gold on the planet, existing above ground or yet to be mined, to back all the fiat currencies that have been created to accommodate the continually rising population in this world.

Better yet, if we applied simple supply and demand laws, the price of gold would reach enormous proportions compared to the universally accepted world standard of the equivalent US$700 per ounce at today’s values. Careful, please, the price may rapidly move or down from that level!

We know reasonably well how much gold there exists on the planet. We also know approximately who owns how much, both in physical gold and in reserves still to be mined. With the expected gold craze to continue, major exploration and mining companies are hoping to bring those underground reserves to daylight to join in the speculative fever of potentially recovering gold.

For example, Northgate Minerals Corporation (TSX: NGX, AMEX: NXG) announced September 8, 2008 that it found new mineral reserves at its Australian site, including some 140,000 ounces of gold. In their press release, the company stated that the find “will extend the current mine-life by an additional 18 months until the fourth quarter of 2011.” (biz.yahoo.com). (www.northgateminerals.com)

If you do simple math and use today’s value at $700/oz., that results in some $98 million. At a cost of some $20/oz, that results in a nice profit for the company and its shareholders.

However, that amount pales on a macroeconomic level.

Egad, don’t tell that to the people that support Ron Paul, The Ludwig von Mises Institute or the people that are hawking gold on all the Conservative sites that run the ads for gold. The only response to this that I can offer is, if they ended the federal reserve bank and stopped the mass production of money. Perhaps we could go back to the gold standard. However, I will be the first to tell you that I am not, nor have I ever been an expert in economics.

It is an interesting article, I do recommend that you read it.


A Post-Election Message from Bill Redpath, Libertarian Party's National Chairman

(H/T independentpoliticalreport.com)

As I recover from Election Day and my US Senate campaign that preceded it, it is time to take stock of where the Libertarian Party stands and what we accomplished in the election season just passed.

While I know that we are disappointed that more of our candidates did not win, and that the Barr/Root presidential ticket and our other candidates did not win as many votes as most of us thought they would get, there is much that we gained in 2008 and a lot to be proud of for the Libertarian Party.

First, I think Bob Barr and Wayne Allyn Root were outstanding candidates that represented the ideas of individual liberty in an exemplary manner.  There was not a single time that I saw them on television or looked at their Web sites where my reaction wasn’t, “Right on!”  They represented our message of individual liberty and responsibility in an outstanding fashion, and I want to thank them for that.  I also have personal knowledge of diligently the campaign staff worked—Russ Verney, Shane Cory, Mike Ferguson, Andrew Davis (on loan from LPHQ) and others.  Thank you for dedication to the effort in the face of many challenges that were outside the control of any of us.

Two of our candidates for office earned over 1,000,000 votes.  They were John Monds, who ran for Public Service Commission, District 1, in Georgia.  His was a two-way statewide race (even though he going to represent a particular district).  Also, William Bryan Strange polled a seven-digit number of votes for Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9, in Texas, in another two-way statewide election.

And, speaking of Georgia, our US Senate candidate in the Peach State, Allen Buckley, forced a nationally publicized runoff election between the two major party candidates.  Also, Brandon Givens, Public Service Commission, District 4 in Georgia, forced a runoff election for the major party candidates for that office.

We came out of the 2008 election with ballot access for the presidential ticket in 27 states—the same number as at the end of the 2004—and more than any other minor party.  However, one of those states that we gained was North Carolina, where Duke University professor Michael Munger earned nearly 3 percent of the vote for Governor, qualifying the Libertarian Party of North Carolina for the ballot for the next four years.  That alone will save the LP about $200,000 in ballot access expenses—not to mention that it will allow more LP candidates to run for office over that period.  We also achieved major party ballot status in Massachusetts, while we lost it in South Dakota.

Even though some people reregistered Republican to vote for Ron Paul in the presidential primaries, the number of voters registered LP nonetheless increased from 225,229 in February 2008 to 243,293 in October 2008.  (Those numbers are from the 23 states that allow voters to register Libertarian and that report those numbers.)

The sustaining membership (those giving at least $25 over the past year) of the LP also increased; it is up over 22 percent from this time last year.

There is indisputably much that was accomplished this year for which we can all be proud.

However, our victories in 2008 not withstanding, the work of the Libertarian Party never ends.  The battle for ballot access begins as soon as it ends, and we have no time to waste to keep the ball rolling.  With ballot access, we need to do as much as we can, as soon as we can—to get it done and to get it done as efficiently as possible.  Last minute fire drills greatly increase petitioning costs and risk not making the ballot at all.

How can you help with ballot access?  First, donate to the Libertarian Party. You can do this at https://www.lp.org/contribute, or mail your donation to the Libertarian Party at the address noted on the front page of this newspaper.  Your contribution of $25, $50, $100 or $1,000 will be used to begin the next cycle of ballot drives as absolutely soon as possible.

Also, please sign up for email announcements at LP.org to stay up to date on our ballot access projects.  Even if you cannot help fund our drives with a donation, we could use your volunteer help collecting signatures where these drives will occur.  Every volunteer signature means one less paid signature, and the savings add up.

Thank you for all your support of our candidates in 2008.  Because of your efforts, the candidates of the Libertarian Party received more than 13 million votes! This is a record for the Party, and it is all due to our wonderful donors, volunteers and candidates across the country.  I emphatically thank you all.

Sincerely,

William Redpath
National Chairman
Libertarian National Committee

President-Elect Obama, you need to do something about this….

(Thanks to Captain Ed, of which I have no quarrel with, at least not yet, for this story)

Let me simply preface this entry by saying the following. Yes, I am a Christian, I do not consider myself a protestant Christian. I am, in fact, an Independent Baptist. We Independent Baptists reject the notion that we are a part of the Protestant reformation, as most of the Denominations from that reformation still hold to much of the formal doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.

Further more, I reject the notion that the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church are even remotely Christian, or the notion that Roman Catholics are even remotely Christians. Any denomination that teaches that Salvation comes by Works, by the Church and by Christ is NOT a Christian Church, nor are it’s doctrines even remotely Christian. Salvation comes by Christ Alone, and NOT by a Church or by any Works.  That is not hate, that is Bible.

Having said all that, I bring an article of where a so-called “priest” is trying to break the laws of Separation of Church and State and is getting the support of the local Catholic “Big-wigs” in the area. The State has more:

A Greenville priest who told parishioners those who cast ballots for President-elect Barack Obama risk placing themselves “outside of the full communion of Christ’s church” is simply enunciating church teaching and has the full support of the Diocese of Charleston, a spokesman said Thursday.

The provocative letter from the Rev. Jay Scott Newman to members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church has sparked some controversy and yet another conversation about faith and public policy.

“Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil,” Newman said in the letter posted on the Greenville church’s Web site, www.stmarysgvl.org, “and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ’s Church and under the judgment of divine law.”

Newman said that those who did not choose the anti-abortion candidate, in this case U.S. Sen. John McCain, “should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.”

Calling Obama “the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate,” Newman went on to say Catholics must pray for the newly elected chief executive.

“Let us hope and pray that the responsibilities of the presidency and the grace of God will awaken in the conscience of this extraordinarily gifted man an awareness that the unholy slaughter of children in this nation is the greatest threat to the peace and security of the United States and constitutes a clear and present danger to the common good,” Newman said in the letter.

St. Mary’s was established in 1852 and is considered the mother church for Upstate Roman Catholics. The church has 7,500 members and operates a parish school for 300 students.

While Newman has been the most outspoken of South Carolina priests in the wake of the election, the administrator of the diocese of Charleston, Msgr. Martin T. Laughlin, supports him fully, said diocese spokesman Steve Gajdosik.

“I think it’s fair to say that Father Newman’s letter echoes the sentiments of Father Laughlin,” he said.

In October, Laughlin wrote a letter on faith and citizenship to the state’s Roman Catholics that urged the faithful to be “moral voters.”

“It was more of a positive exhortation to do good, to do the right thing,” Gajdosik said.

In the 2004 election, a controversy erupted when some Roman Catholic bishops suggested Democratic presidential contender John Kerry should be denied Communion because his public votes went against church teachings.

If Newman’s letter is an indication, that struggle over public policy and faith will go on. Many Roman Catholics supported Obama and did not believe their vote was in conflict with their faith.

“Personally, I think it is valuable to have this discussion in the secular media because, many times, many Catholics don’t go to Mass, and so they come at this issue from a secular viewpoint,” Gadjosik said.

“I think to Father Newman’s credit, he isn’t afraid to tackle tough issues. And sometimes there is a lot of pressure to conform and just be nice and go along.”

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said she had not heard of other churches taking this position in reaction to Obama’s win. A Boston-based group that supports Catholic Democrats questioned the move, saying it was too extreme.

“Father Newman is off-base,” said Steve Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats. “He is acting beyond the authority of a parish priest to say what he did. … Unfortunately, he is doing so in a manner that will be of great cost to those parishioners who did vote for Senators Obama and Biden. There will be a spiritual cost to them for his words.”

Let me remind my readers that the Roman Catholic Church has a clear track record of persecuting those who did not agree with their Biblically corrupt doctrines. In the 1230’s a group of Christians, who rejected the Doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church were persecuted, that would be a group, that we Baptists can trace our linage to; the Waldensians. Another group of Christians, who were friends with this group, The Albigenses, were brutally slaughtered and their property stolen, by the Roman Catholic Church; all because they refused to accept the fact that the Roman Catholic Church was the “true” Church; this happened in the 1300’s.

President-Elect Obama, this is nothing more than a full bore violation of the concept of the Separation of Church and State. Further more, it is nothing more than outright voter intimation. There is but one way to stop this sort of meddling in the electoral process, and that is to demand a retraction of this so-called “Priests” statement to his Church. If that so-called “Priest” does not retract his statement; then as President of the United States of America, you, President-Elect Obama should, by an executive order, should remove the Tax-Exempt Status of the ENTIRE Roman Catholic Church in the United States of America. Do so on the basis that the Roman Catholic Church has not only violated the separation of Church and State, but has also used the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrines to commit voter intimidation.

There are a couple of books that I highly recommend that people read, especially Catholics, who want to the truth about that so-called Church and it’s bloody history. Here are those books:

Now, I realize that I might lose a reader or two, because I wrote this, but if that is the price that I must pay to present the truth to the people that read this blog, then it is one that I will take. I realize also, that Ed or someone over at HotAir.com will most likely yank this trackback. I’ve always said Republicans were, in fact, fascists. But that’s the price one must be for being a true Bible-Believer, I suppose, such as life, I guess.

We as Americans and as Christians need to guard against Religious persecution from any sort of Christian Domination. That is why the pilgrims fled Great Britain, because the Church of England’s meddling in the affairs of the Government. We should not stand for it here in America.

Another Young Conservative Wakes Up and Smells the Coffee!

Finally, another young Conservative has awakened and smelled the coffee brewing.

Go read

Quote:

Mr. D — As a ‘young intellectual conservative’ mulling over factions in the coming Big Conservative Brouhaha, I’m thinking of jumping the USS GOP in favor of the Libertarian party. 3 quick reasons

  • It’s ideologically coherent. Or, at least, built on a strong foundation of promoting individual liberty and, y’know, actually deferring to the Constitution.
  • It’s ‘cool’. Libertarians are generally viewed as either uncompromising personal freedoms/open market zealots, or in the case of those just looking for a political party that justifies their bad behavior, party animals. Both are preferable to the ‘sexually repressed bigoted fundamentalist freakshow’ image the Republican party now engenders, thanks largely to the media and, well, Republicans in general lately.
  • Compassionate conservatism sucks. I don’t want a holy-roller welfare state any more than I want a degenerate welfare state.

I’m not under the illusion that we’re somehow going to see the end of the two-party system, and of course I take pause with some of the nuttier Libertarian policies, but what on earth is nuttier than Republicans nationalizing swaths of the economy hither and thither?

Right now, the Republican brand is in shambles, mainly having ignored its own principles. The party that most unabashedly protects those principles I hold paramount — individual liberties, respect for the Constitution, and free markets — is the Libertarian party. Either way, I suspect conservatives will be out in the wilderness for a while, and if you’re going to be a bear, you might as well be a grizzly.

Of course, I disagree with some of Derbyshire’s responses, but I think it is a very positive thing to see, that finally some of the young people within the Republican Party are waking up to the fact that G.O.P. No longer represents them any longer. That, in itself, it is a step in the right direction.

Reality Bites for the Neo-Cons

P.J. O’Rourke is having a bad case of reality handed to him.

Let us bend over and kiss our ass goodbye. Our 28-year conservative opportunity to fix the moral and practical boundaries of government is gone–gone with the bear market and the Bear Stearns and the bear that’s headed off to do you-know-what in the woods on our philosophy.

An entire generation has been born, grown up, and had families of its own since Ronald Reagan was elected. And where is the world we promised these children of the Conservative Age? Where is this land of freedom and responsibility, knowledge, opportunity, accomplishment, honor, truth, trust, and one boring hour each week spent in itchy clothes at church, synagogue, or mosque? It lies in ruins at our feet, as well it might, since we ourselves kicked the shining city upon a hill into dust and rubble. The progeny of the Reagan Revolution will live instead in the universe that revolves around Hyde Park.

Mind you, they won’t live in Hyde Park. Those leafy precincts will be reserved for the micromanagers and macro-apparatchiks of liberalism–for Secretary of the Department of Peace Bill Ayers and Secretary of the Department of Fairness Bernardine Dohrn. The formerly independent citizens of our previously self-governed nation will live, as I said, around Hyde Park. They will make what homes they can in the physical, ethical, and intellectual slums of the South Side of Chicago.

The South Side of Chicago is what everyplace in America will be once the Democratic administration and filibuster-resistant Democratic Congress have tackled global warming, sustainability, green alternatives to coal and oil, subprime mortgage foreclosures, consumer protection, business oversight, financial regulation, health care reform, taxes on the “rich,” and urban sprawl. The Democrats will have plenty of time to do all this because conservatism, if it is ever reborn, will not come again in the lifetime of anyone old enough to be rounded up by ACORN and shipped to the polling booths.

None of this is the fault of the left. After the events of the 20th century–national socialism, international socialism, inter-species socialism from Earth First–anyone who is still on the left is obviously insane and not responsible for his or her actions. No, we on the right did it. The financial crisis that is hoisting us on our own petard is only the latest (if the last) of the petard hoistings that have issued from the hindquarters of our movement. We’ve had nearly three decades to educate the electorate about freedom, responsibility, and the evils of collectivism, and we responded by creating a big-city-public-school-system of a learning environment. – More at The Weekly Standard

One thing that O’Rourke fails to realize is that the polices advocated by the Kristol’s that basically were the foundation for the “Bush Doctrine”; were, in fact, the reason that the Conservatives lost this election in the first place. Yes, the economy was factor, John McCain’s rather stupid campaign was a factor, but one cannot escape that the main underlying reason for the ass kicking that the Republicans received in this election, and that was the FAILED polices of the Bush Administration and the many scandals that came out of it. Neo-Conservatives tried like bloody hell to spin the scandals, but the American people are just not that stupid. They saw spin and they voted accordingly.

Until the Republican Party literally casts out the Neo-Conservatives out of their party and gets back to the old school Libertarian Conservatism of Barry Goldwater, of which O’Rourke tries to rather lamely dismiss; the Republican Party will become a thing of the past. Neo-Conservatism of the Bush stripe, just does not work in America and in the context of a modern Democracy; It has been tried and it has failed miserably. Further more the Republican Party needs to tell the Evangelical Conservative Christian movement to tend to their own affairs in the Church, and stop meddling in the affairs of Government. it is this writers opinion, that one of the worst things that ever happened to the Conservative movement, was the inclusion of the Religious-Right movement. It ended up costing us the election this time and was more of a liability than an asset.

It is time for the Republican Party as a whole, to rethink their message or face extinction. For the good of the Republic, we cannot afford the Liberals that victory.

Others: Little Green Footballs, Right Wing News and Jules Crittenden

Two in a row from Red State Update

Part 1:

Part 2:

Exit Question or Comment: (take your pick) Canada? Yeah, that’ll help! 😆

Exit Question Part Deux: Karl Rove? 😮

Conservatives Lost More Than An Election by Chuck Baldwin

Editors note: During the election, I did say that I would not print Chuck Baldwin’s Articles, due to his defending of Jerome Corsi’s smear book of Barack Obama. However, the election is now over, Barack Obama is now our new President elect and I will resume publishing the Articles here. Because now I feel it is the time for the stopping of divison in Conservatism and it is time for the rebulding of the Conservative Movement as a whole, it is my hope that these articles will play a little part in this rebuilding process.

——

(Via NewsWithVews.com)

That Barack Obama trounced John McCain last Tuesday should have surprised no one. In fact, in this column, weeks ago, I stated emphatically that John McCain could no more beat Barack Obama than Bob Dole could beat Bill Clinton. He didn’t. (Hence a vote for John McCain was a “wasted” vote, was it not?) I also predicted that Obama would win with an electoral landslide. He did. The real story, however, is not how Barack Obama defeated John McCain. The real story is how John McCain defeated America’s conservatives.

For all intents and purposes, conservatism–as a national movement–is completely and thoroughly dead. Barack Obama did not destroy it, however. It was George W. Bush and John McCain who destroyed conservatism in America.

Soon after G.W. Bush was elected, it quickly became obvious he was no conservative. On the contrary, George Bush has forever established himself as a Big-Government, warmongering, internationalist neocon. Making matters worse was the way Bush presented himself as a conservative Christian. In fact, Bush’s portrayal of himself as a conservative Christian paved the way for the betrayal and ultimate destruction of conservatism (something I also predicted years ago). And the greatest tragedy of this deception is the way that Christian conservatives so thoroughly (and stupidly) swallowed the whole Bush/McCain neocon agenda.

For example, Bush and his fellow neocons like to categorize and promote themselves as being “pro-life,” but they have no hesitation or reservation about killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people in reckless and unconstitutional foreign wars. By the same token, how many unborn babies were saved by six years of all three branches of the federal government being under the control of these “pro-life” neocons? Not one! Ask the more than eight million unborn babies who were killed in their mothers’ wombs during the last eight years how “pro-life” George W. Bush and John McCain are.

As a result of this insanely inconsistent and pixilated punditry, millions of Americans now laugh at the very notion of “pro-life” conservatism. Bush and McCain have made a mockery of the very term.

Consider, too, the way Bush and McCain have allowed the international bankers on Wall Street to bilk America’s taxpayers out of trillions of dollars. Yes, I know Obama also supported the Wall Street bailout, but it was the Republican Party that controlled the White House for the last eight years and the entire federal government for six out of the last eight years. In fact, the GOP has won seven out of the previous ten Presidential elections. They have controlled Supreme Court appointments for the past thirty-plus years. They have appointed the majority of Treasury secretaries and Federal Reserve chairmen. They have presided over the greatest trade imbalances, the biggest deficits, the biggest spending increases, and now the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression.

Again, the American people look at these so-called “conservatives” and laugh. No wonder such a sizeable majority of voters yawned when John McCain tried to scare them by accusing Barack Obama of being a “big taxer.” How can one possibly scare people with a charge like that after the GOP has made a total mockery of fiscal conservatism? That’s like trying to scare someone coming out from a swim in the Gulf of Mexico with a squirt gun.

Then there was the pathetic attempt by the National Rifle Association (NRA) to scare gun owners regarding an Obama White House. Remember that John McCain is the same guy that the NRA rightly condemned for proposing his blatantly unconstitutional McCain/Feingold bill. McCain is also the same guy that tried to close down gun shows. He even made a personal campaign appearance for a pro-gun control liberal in the State of Oregon a few short years ago. In fact, the Gun Owners of America (GOA) gave McCain a grade of “F” for his dismal record on Second Amendment issues. Once again, Chicken Little-style paranoia over Barack Obama rang hollow when the alternative was someone as liberal as John McCain.

But the worst calamity of this election was the way conservatives–especially Christian conservatives–surrendered their principles for the sake of political partisanship. The James Dobsons of this country should hang their heads in shame! Not only did they lose an election, they lost their integrity!

In South Carolina, for example, pro-life Christians and conservatives had an opportunity to vote for a principled conservative-constitutionalist for the U.S. Senate. He is pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-traditional marriage. He believes in securing our borders against illegal immigration. He is against the bailout for the Wall Street banksters. His conservative credentials are unassailable. But the vast majority of Christian conservatives (including those at Bob Jones University) voted for his liberal opponent instead.

The man that the vast majority of Christian conservatives voted for in South Carolina is a Big-Government neocon. He supported the bailout of the Wall Street banksters. He is a rabid supporter of granting amnesty and a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens. In fact, this man has a conservative rating of only 29% in the current Freedom Index of the New American Magazine.

Why did Christian conservatives support the liberal neocon and not the solid pro-life conservative? Because the conservative ran as a Democrat and the neocon is a Republican. I’m talking about the race between Bob Conley and Lindsey Graham, of course.

Had South Carolina’s pastors, Christians, evangelicals, and pro-life conservatives voted for Bob Conley, he would be the new senator-elect from that state. In fact, Bob was so conservative that the Democratic leadership in South Carolina endorsed the Republican, Lindsey Graham! No matter. A majority of evangelical Christians in South Carolina stupidly rejected Bob Conley and voted for Graham.

Across the country, rather than stand on principle, hundreds of thousands of pastors, Christians, and pro-life conservatives capitulated and groveled before John McCain’s neocon agenda. In doing so, they forfeited any claim to truth, and they abandoned any and all fidelity to constitutional government. They should rip the stories of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego out of their Bibles. They should never again tell their children, parishioners, and radio audiences the importance of standing for truth and principle. They have made a mockery of Christian virtue. No wonder a majority of the voting electorate laughs at us Christians. No wonder the GOP crashed and burned last Tuesday.

Again, it wasn’t Barack Obama who destroyed conservatism; it was George W. Bush, John McCain, and the millions of evangelical Christians who supported them. And until conservatives find their backbone and their convictions, they deserve to remain a burnt-out, has-been political force. They have no one to blame but themselves.

And since it is unlikely that the Republican Party has enough sense to understand any of this and will, therefore, do little to reestablish genuine conservative principles, it is probably best to just go ahead and bury the scoundrels now and move on to something else. Without a sincere commitment to constitutional government, the GOP has no justifiable reason to ever govern again. Therefore, put a fork in them. They are done. Let a new entity arise from the ashes: one that will stand for something more than just “the lesser of two evils.” As we say in the South, That dog just won’t hunt anymore.

——

Chuck Baldwin is Founder-Pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. In 1985 the church was recognized by President Ronald Reagan for its unusual growth and influence.

Dr. Baldwin is the host of a lively, hard-hitting syndicated radio talk show on the Genesis Communications Network called, “Chuck Baldwin Live” This is a daily, one hour long call-in show in which Dr. Baldwin addresses current event topics from a conservative Christian point of view. Pastor Baldwin writes weekly articles on the internet http://www.ChuckBaldwinLive.com and newspapers.

To learn more about his radio talk show please visit his web site at: www.chuckbaldwinlive.com. When responding, please include your name, city and state.

E-mail: chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com

Gen Wesley Clark sucks up to the one they call "O"

You hear that loud sucking sound? That’s the sound of General Wesley Clark, the traitor the United States Military, who is now sucking up to President-Elect B. Hussein Obama.

On Tuesday, our country made history — electing Barack Obama President of the United States.

As I walked onto the field in Grant Park — there were thousands of us around the podium — a couple of reporters asked me what I thought of this. “Transformational,” I said, “but, ask Ernest Green, right here, who was one of the original young people at Central High who broke segregation in the South. Ask him!”

It was a humbling and deeply moving experience to be there with Ernest and with former Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, Ambassador Sam Brown and his wife, and so many others who have shared our passion to set this country on the right course. And to see the faces of all around us, representing all the diversity that Barack cited in his remarks. Some were jubilant, some were softly sobbing, some were joyous, a couple were watching others in the crowd. Cell phones and cameras were everywhere as people called friends and families to share the experience.

This was, truly, a transformational event.

What a traitor to our United States Military! What a traitor to the Republic! He should be court martial’ed and put in prison. I could think of a few others things that should happen to him too, but because I don’t want to be accused to threatening someone, I’ll keep my damn thoughts to myself, least the idiot Liberal thought police come after me.

A damn disgrace to the Military. This is treason and is unforgivable in my book. 😡

Two very good postings on the future of the Repubican Party.

First at the next right:

The rebuilding and renewal of the Right will start soon.  This will be very important.   The Right and the Republican Party are at an inflection point, and there are many directions things can go.   The destiny of the Right and the Republican Party will be determined in large part by the decisions you make in the days, weeks and months ahead.

  • Some of you will say “we have learned our lesson“, and then try to pass off cosmetic changes as Reform.  You are the problem.
  • Some of you will say “Republicans need to fight/hold Democrats accountable“, as if it is sufficient to be against Democrats.  The pendulum may eventually swing back to you, but you won’t know what to do with it.
  • Some of you will say “Republicans need to carry our message to the American people“, as if the problem is that Republicans haven’t been saying “tax cuts and limited government” loudly enough.  The problem is not the inability to communicate; the problem is that you have no idea how to actually deliver on those ideas.
  • Others will say “Republicans need to be more principled“, as if the problem is a mere lack of personal courage and principle by Republicans.  Even the best people can’t limit government if there is not an effective strategy for implementation – for getting “from here to there”.  You don’t need better people.  You need a better strategy.

The problem is not Republican politicians, although many Republicans politicians are a problem.  The problem is not with the basic ideals of limited government and personal freedom, either.  The problem is a movement that plays small-ball and cedes responsibility for infrastructure to business interests, leadership that rewards those who make friends rather than waves, an entrenched Party and Movement support system that mostly supports itself, an echo chamber that has rotted our intellect, a grassroots that is ill-equipped to shape the Republican Party, and a Republican Party that has replaced strategy with tactics, substance with marketing.

These problems can be fixed, but the fix is not cosmetic.  The rot is deep.  We do not need reformation of the Republican Party; we need transformation of the Republican Party.  That is going to require fresh blood, new ideas, new infrastructure…and perhaps more than a little time in the wilderness.

Also at Balloon Juice:

There was nothing that really summed up the idiocy of the GOP quite like Rick Davis and company passing out tire pressure gauges in an attempt to mock a common sense approach to dealing with one of many aspects of the energy crisis. I am sure it will surprise no one that the brain trust at Red State was issuing action alerts for this, too.

In short, America got seduced by the Republican sweet talk, we took them home into our bedroom for some good times, and instead of performance, it turns out the Republicans have a serious case of electile dysfunction. Rather than hold true to their “principles,” they chose to sit on the edge of the bed for eight years and tell us how good it was going to be, and we lost interest and fell asleep.

The only thing I have add to this is that the Republican Party was more interested in mocking Democrats than they were in offering alternative solutions. There are real problems is this world of ours and burying one’s head in the sand and living in a alternative universe is not going to help at all.  The problem was, nobody told the McCain campaign this or the Republican Party this. Because of this, we now have a Liberal President.

While Principles and ideology are great. In the real world, pragmatism goes a long way. The Republican Party needs to learn that, badly.