Ideaological Politics

Ideologues, when in charge of either party, are extremely destructive. One of the greatest attributes on our Republic is that the Founding Fathers devised a system which generally ensures a balance of power. Balance of power shifted too far in either direction, as we saw during the 2000 cycle and the 2008 cycle, is very bad for the country.

Yet, calling either of the past two Presidents names, such as a "Hitler without the mustache" is an unserious position and one that adds nothing to a legitimate discussion of the issues. Using these pejoratives to dissuade Obama supporters, many of whom now suffer nearly terminal buyer's remorse is not helpful. It's as obtuse as saying "Bush Lied, People Died," or that George W. Bush ran for president so he could fabricate intelligence to unjustifiably take the country to war to avenge his father and enrich his military contractor friends. Remember that neither Bush nor Obama act alone. Every Republican Senator and most Democratic Senators voted to invade Iraq. Every Democratic senator voted for the "stimulus" and for ObamaCare.

Bush made serious missteps and brought America along for the ride, but at least he truly believes in American exceptionalism. The problem is much deeper and far more serious with Mr. Obama, who is more a symptom of what truly ails America. Obama’s nomination was reactionary and he was elevated to princely status. Yet, blaming the prince should not blind anyone to the vacuous multitude who elevated him.

Obama's leftism is mainstreamed by his party. If stating that Obama is evil, what does this make those who support his agenda? To claim they are all evil is just plain foolish. It's more on point to say that Obama is an inexperienced, naive, wrongheaded ideologue who, even now, doesn't recognize the harm he is doing to the country. Truth be told, the President is an arrogant man with a racial chip on his shoulder. He is unquestionably a wealth redistributionist who, by his own statements, thinks of America as an imperialist power that needs to apologize to the world for its past sins. This does not make Obama evil, it simply makes him wrong, which in many ways makes him harder to deal with -- and even more dangerous. The fact that he's not out to intentionally destroy America makes him a larger menace.

Good intentions make it difficult to persuade people to fight against his policies, harder to focus not on intentions but rather on consequences and results. The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry willing to entrust a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved, apathetic electorate willing to elect either Bush or Obama for their president.

Over the next two years, Obama's will retreat toward the middle. It will be tactical, not reflective of a change of heart or core belief because he will have no choice. The balance of power will shift and he will either check himself or be checked. This is the reality of American politics.

The Republic will survive George Bush and Barack Obama, who are merely ideologues. It is less likely to survive the multitude of fools and their political parties, who elevated such men to national candidacy in the first place.

CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED

Thomas Jefferson, paraphrasing from James Madison’s “Virginia Declaration of Rights” began the US Declaration of Independence with the following:

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; that when any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government

Later, in an indictment of King George, he included:

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states.

The most important words in the foregoing paragraph are that the government derives it’s just powers from the consent of the governed.

The most interesting issue with the latter paragraph is how much our current professional politicians parallel the injuries and usurpations of King George.

At this point, I want to ask a number of questions:

1) Do you give your consent for a government to create more than 13 TRILLION DOLLARS in public debt which it forces its citizens to repay? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

2) Do you give your consent for the government to create more than 80,000 pages of Federal regulations which determine and limit every movement you make in your daily lives? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

3) Do you give your consent for the creation of more than 70,000 pages of Tax legislation which determines how much you will send to the operation of the government every year? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

4) Do you give your consent to a government which creates an agency to decrease the importation of foreign oil at a time when we imported 20% of our oil and now spends more than 16 BILLION dollars per year to have us import more than 75% of the oil we use annually? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

5) Do you give your consent to a government which is hiring more than 15,000 IRS agents who are being tasked with the responsibility to find and prosecute the businesses and business owners who do not comply with the recently enacted health care legislation? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

6) Do you give your consent to a government which writes and enacts legislation which has more than 2700 pages of rules and regulations in spite of the fact that most, if not all did not read the legislation before voting in favor of enacting it? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

7) Do you give your consent to a government which is tasked with defending our shores, yet allows more than 250,000 aliens to illegally cross our borders without consequence? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

8) Do you give your consent to a government which in a warped attempt to protect and defend our shores, chooses to ”nation build” by waging war against countries which have different views of how a government should operate? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

9) Do you give your consent to a government which limits the term of the President, but allows its national legislators to serve indefinitely and pass laws which undermine outsiders attempts to serve the government? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

10) Do you give your consent to a government which dictates legislation to the states rather than accepting direction from “these United States”? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

If, on the other hand, you do not give your consent to be governed by an overreaching legislative body of professional politicians whose main interest is their own self preservation, I implore you to go out into your neighborhoods, find the best, most responsible members of your community and vote them into office.

There is a better way to operate this Republic and if we, the citizens of these United States, don’t wake up and change the course of the nation, in a very short time -- within the next 20 years -- there won’t be a nation left. The answer, in my opinion, is to return political power and the ability to collect and administer taxes to the individual states. This is not as radical an idea as it may sound, and it is much easier to enact than many might think. It is also an idea which will, if applied properly, will encourage business creation, job growth and American exceptionalism. Detailed explanation to follow.